Monday, April 12, 2004

Kerry’s position on Iraq has that certain je ne sais quoi

Bonjour, mon amis! The Boston Globe has an article on John Francois Kerry titled “Kerry criticized for French connection – Republican strategy hits culture, image”

True, Kerry has a French cousin, speaks French fluently, and as a child was en vacances on the Brittany coast. It's a combination his foes have turned into a kind of character flaw, much to the insult of many French people as well as Kerry's supporters.

Mon dieu! We surely wouldn’t want to insult the French, who have steadfastly opposed every move we’ve made in the war on terror. But give the French credit: at least they’ve been consistent on their position. Nobody knows where Monsieur Kerry stands when it comes to the war in Iraq (HT to Betsy):

But if Mr. Kerry has trouble understanding the nature of the enemy we face in Iraq, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee also seems unable to spell out exactly what he would do differently in Iraq. He is all attack lines and no solutions.

And here’s Andrew Sullivan:

This leaves, however, a fascinating dilemma for John Kerry. So far, his campaign has been dedicated to criticizing how the president got us into the Iraq war. …. But he has yet to articulate a compelling alternative to Bush's call for resolve. Again, when asked last week what his own current policy would be, he responded: "Right now, what I would do differently is, I mean, look, I'm not the president, and I didn't create this mess so I don't want to acknowledge a mistake that I haven't made." That's a non-answer. But a non-answer tells you a lot about what a real answer might be.

Sullivan hands Kerry a ready-made script to make his own case for Iraq, one that Kerry will never use because it fails to include the escape clauses that are de rigueur for any position by Senator Splunge. Instead, Francois Kerry will continue his pattern of Gallic haughtiness and Continental outrage that produces no answers but makes him the favorite of the French and American elite.

No comments: