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Thursday, May 27, 2004
Last week the Medium Lobster warned readers of the dangers of a Kerry presidency. The Medium Lobster's warning, it appears, could not have been more timely, as the nightmare juggernaut that is the Kerry campaign has launched the Massachusetts liberal into a daunting three-point lead over George Bush in the latest Rasmussen Tracking Poll. One glance at the poll's history and it becomes clear that Kerry has cleverly used recent turmoil in Iraq and the President's sinking approval ratings to his advantage - by remaining all but invisible to the American electorate.
As Democratic strategists from Charles Krauthammer to elder statesman and master political guru Mickey Kaus have pointed out, Kerry has wisely opted to refrain from such disastrous tactical errors as "hitting Bush where he's weak," or "substantively critiquing foreign policy," or "offering a viable and coherent alternative." Instead, Kerry has cunningly chosen to sit back, relying on a handful of biographical ads and the unmistakable charismatic pull of his screen absence to draw in supporters. And that strategy could win Kerry the election - in a landslide. From his mantra-like delivery to the crisp, cynical packaging of his campaign theme - "Let America Be America Again" - Kerry is coldly exploiting America's rich history of Zen populism, planning to ride all the way to the White House on a wave of faltering invisibility. There is still hope, however - Kerry has begun embarking on an 11-day foreign policy tour, a mistake which could cripple his campaign by fatally reminding the voting public he exists. Treacherous tactitian that Kerry is, however, it is entirely possible that this will entirely consist of unremarkable speeches delivered to policy institutes which will go entirely unnoticed by anyone outside of CSPAN-2 - only clinching Kerry's grip on the battleground states. In which case America may be already lost.
posted by the Medium Lobster at 5:58 PM
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