Tabula rasa

Jeff Jacoby stands amazed at the empty vessel that is John Kerry:

It is the oldest rap on Kerry, and the truest: He seems to have no bedrock of conviction, no deeply held first principles -- nothing like Ted Kennedy's passionate Great Society liberalism, which the Democratic National Convention so lustily celebrated on Tuesday. Kerry is disciplined, smart, and studious; he does his homework, isn't lazy, eats his peas. But the questions never go away: Who is he? What does he stand for? Why does he come down on every side of almost every issue? Is he driven by anything more than ambition? Underneath it all, is there any there there?

Kerry's acceptance speech at the Fleet Center tonight will be the climax of the convention. There will be more eyes on him as he takes the podium than at any point since the campaign began. And who knows? Maybe the Democrats' standard-bearer will have found his true north at last. Maybe he'll tell us where he wants to lead the nation, not merely what he thinks most voters want to hear. Maybe after tonight no one will ever again wonder who the real John Kerry is.

But I wouldn't bet on it.

I've been saying for months that the lesson of 9/11 is that we live in serious times.  The American people must have a clear vision of the future, not the bland and broad equivocations of "The Great Straddler."