A letter to Jon Kerry,
You have all the potential pieces of a historic campaign to change America and its direction in the world.
It is time however to put all the pieces together.
1. You have the tough man demeanor that many Dems have appeared (notice this bit) to not have in the past. Take a look at this site page:
http://www.southernersforkerry.com/wild.html . Come on we have a man who is a sportsman and a hunter for goodness sakes. Take advantage of it. Get out there at more hockey games (that was good stuff) and snowboarding and motorcycling events. Ride your bike with the guys and make a short speech aimed at the crowd in question. Play this up.
2. You got the money man. The fundraising efforts have been widely successfull as reported. It is time for a little pre-convention offensive. Bush Co has imploded enough its time to smack them when they are down and running from the unsuccessfull smear campaign. Resurrect the ad "Keep our Word" and update and play it wide and hard. Shut down for the convention because you will have all the press you need but come on. This is the time to hit the liars.
3. Keep up the tough talk. You are not hurting yourself because the general population is not paying major attention right now and as long as you don't go screaming into the mike like a mad man you got a free ticket. The Hardball response to the smear talk and the line "they went to war because they could" was incredible. You got major kudos in the house of your base. Sure, you got to appeal to the mushy middle but you have to still carry the torch and fire up the base like you did in the speech on Women's rights.
4. Organize more on a grassroots level. Reach out to women and family groups. Reach out to the unions and give them some guarntees they can take back to the members. Get out to the cities and the African American districts. Go out to teacher's groups and talk with them about how you will not try to demonize them or their unions. We have not even hit the convention yet. It is time now to fire up the base and get everyone motivated before you reach out to the mushy middle and try to convince the undecideds to go with you. Paul Wellstone taught the Democratic party how to organize on a grassroots level. Listen to the ghost of the inspiration of progressives across the nation.
5. Remember the focus. A lot of what I hear is really good stuff but its like the emphasis is off. You need that populist not DLC fence-sitting feel to your tone. I like Gore but the man ran the most boring campaign in the history of man. Talk about shutting down corporate loopholes and how 60% of all corporations paid 0 taxes between 1996-2000 not how you are going to give them a tax break. You want to look all reasonable on tax breaks? Ok, you will reward corporations for not shipping jobs overseas while shutting down the tax loophole for corporations you ship jobs overseas. See the difference in emphasis? Subtle but it is important to firing up the base and striking a more populist cord in your tone toward corporations. Hit up the talk about refining NAFTA and not backing the FTAA without provisions and such. You got to show the voters there is a real difference between you and Bush. Voters want a choice or they will stay home.
6. The War. In general statements it still feels like you have not struck out far enough from Bush to give the people a real choice. This is tough because you want the anti-war vote but you cannot look weak and give Rove a chance to strike. There are great statements like they went to war "because they could". Another one is the Rolling Stones remark that you voted for the war but never thought Bush "would f*ck it up like this". It is the right message that we need to take a more international approach to the post-war. However, the whole message could be more coherent and could differentiate you from Bush on a wider level. How do you do this? Ok, first Bush should have never gone to war without a real indication without giving the UN a fair chance with the inspectors. You have said this but hammer it home. He totally screwed up making his case to the international community. He did not send enough troops. You talk about returning the US to the international community of nations. You talk about involving the UN. You talk about returning sovereignty to the Iraqi people and rebuilding the infrastructure. Sure, you talk about all this but you are missing some things that Bush certainly does not have. First, the Iraqis have to be part of their own rebuilding. The contractors are not hiring Iraqis and the high unemployment rate is a direct result in Iraq of this.
Unemployed Iraqis with no way to feed their families get desperate and angry quick. This one is easy. The other thing Bush is missing There has to be an exit strategy. There has to be a way out that does not amount to cut and run. There has to be a point where the Iraqi people forge their own destiny and the troops return home. You have to talk about this. No one is talking about this and you have to. This is a chance for real bravery. This is the opportunity to make sure you are not asking the US soldiers to fight and die with no way out.
7. Israel. Every other pundit in the universe sees Bush's endorsement without qualification of Sharon's plan as counter-productive to peace. I know that you cannot let Bush out Zion you and chip away at the 70% or so of jews that vote Democratic. I know this. However, there is no reason to talk so damn much. You don't have to condemn. I support the Gaza pullout but I am troubled about Sharon's position on the settlements. What is so bad about that. Only the most out there on the edge group would fault you for that. Anything else and you are going to freak out the liberal base while not winning one more jewish vote.
8. Don't go out to nowhere for a Vice-Presidential candidate. Get Edwards or Clark. I mean this. You need someone who is very strong to stand up and be the pitbull and smack the ever living hell of the kind of chickenhawks, Cheney.
9. Don't run from your liberal past. It was Mondale or Dukakis that pointed out the American people agree with the Democratic platform by nearly 95%. The problem is that you have to understand how to voice this platform in a populist fashion. They did not understand this. Keep up statements like, “If the worst thing they can say about me is that I’m a liberal, well, then, bring it on,” Or even better, "If wanting better schools makes me a liberal, then yeah, I am a liberal." Continue to face up to the positions you have taken years to defend. You have been more consistent than Bush on the core of your fundamental principles. Stand tall and take the tough populist stance. Get James Carville and Clinton to kidnap you right before the convention and give you a crash course in talking the populist line. Maybe they can invite Edwards to help as well.
10. Paint the Republicans as the extremist, out of touch, radical liars that they are. How did Clinton beat Dole politically within an inch of his Viagra sucking life? By painting him as both radical and extreme right-wing. There is no compassionate conservatism with Bush. Every speech and every ad should drive home the point that you are the natural choice to a radical extreme and dangerous administration. This has to become the mantra for which any negative part of your campaign rests on. Bill Clinton taught this lesson well. Learn from him in this regard.
11. The Real Deal. This is a great slogan I do not hear Kerry use enough. Draw out the major points of his platform and hammer home this label. Conjure the ghosts of Truman and FDR. We have the opportunity that if we can win back the legislature in the future to forge a great new Democratic legacy. Make the label and make it stick and hammer it into every speech you can.
12. The Patriot Act is not a political landmine. It is a wonderful opportunity politically speaking. Democrats have to wrap ourselves up in the Bill of Rights the way the Right-wingers wrap themselves up in the flag. Speak out for the civil liberties that are risk. You voted for this thing and is your obligation in the protection of the Constitution in the oath you took so many years ago as a soldier to put this thing down like the rabid dog it is.
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