Thursday, April 20, 2006

Kerry 'thinking hard' about 2008 run for president

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., is interviewed on NBC's 'Meet the Press' in Washington Sunday, April 9, 2006. (AP Photo/NBC Meet the Press, Alex Wong)

I'm not sure how to comment on this. From Yahoo News:

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Former Democratic presidential candidate
John Kerry said on Thursday he was seriously thinking about another White House bid in 2008 and will decide before the year is out.

"I will make that decision toward the end of the year, but I'm thinking about it hard," Kerry said in response to a question at the Latin Economic Forum at the
United Nations.

"If you can get help me find 60,000 votes in Ohio ...," he joked, referring to the close race in that state on which his 2004 loss to
President Bush hinged.

Kerry, a U.S. senator from Massachusetts, has criticized Bush on a range of issues, particularly the war in Iraq.

On Thursday, he focused on Latin America, saying Bush lost interest in the region after the September 11 attacks.

"Relations between the United States and Latin America today are at their lowest point since the end of the Cold War," Kerry said.

Other Democrats seen as potentially seeking the nomination include U.S. Sen.
Hillary Clinton, former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner and Kerry's former running mate,
John Edwards.

To be honest, I'll take Al Gore over John Kerry any day. I will say that John Kerry is certainly qualified to be president, but his 2004 campaign was a lackluster disaster. His campaign was pretty much destroyed by Karl Rove--the accusations of flip-flopping and I-was-for-the-war-before-I-was-against-it. Kerry was "Swift-Boated" for his anti-war opposition during the Vietnam War, and was called a traitor, even though Kerry himself had served in Vietnam--in combat--whereas President Bush used his family connections to weasel out of the Vietnam War. And yet in the 2004 campaign, you ended up with the impression that Bush was the true war hero, while Kerry was the treasonous weasel. John Kerry's campaign was a disaster. What is so funny is that Kerry had the chance to win the presidency, considering Bush's weaknesses in domestic policy issues, and the American public's concern over the war in Iraq. John Kerry had the chance, and he blew it.

If John Kerry wants to become president in 2008, he's going to have to do more in opposing Bush. He is going to have to take strong positions against the president, and fight on them. Kerry is going to have to provide not just a vision of the future for America, but also a plan to get to that future. He is going to have to provide new ideas on how to solve this country's economic, educational, immigration, health and social issues that we are now facing. I'm not sure that Kerry can do that. I'm not sure that Kerry has any idea on how to solve these issues, and that is the biggest problem that the Democrats have now. Five years of the Bush administration's mis-rule and complete lack of leadership have created problems in this country that cannot be solved by simple slogans, or governmental policies determined by political party focus groups. These problems transcend the short-sighted political games that both the Democrats and Republicans are currently playing. And I don't see a leader that can rise above the crass politics of either political party.

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