George Bush, in last night's presidential debate, repeated the mantra of steadfastness to the point of tedium. It's an abstract steadfastness -- not a defense of the purpose of the war of Iraq -- that is the essence of the Bush reelection campaign. And it plays, with an American electorate that sees itself, accurately or not, as resolute.
John Kerry has to make voters see, in place of steadfastness, the president's stubborness. He was on the right track, in the Florida debate. "It's one thing to be certain, but you can be certain and be wrong. It's another to be certain and be right or be certain and be moving in the right direction or be certain about a principle and then learn new facts and take those new facts and put them use in order to change to get your policy right."
That was a promising start, for Kerry; he's capable of drawing a little blood. But where was the kill? Kerry needs to affix a title to the president -- George The Stubborn, say it! -- as firmly as the Republicans have defined the Democratic challenger as a flip-flopper. And -- it's too late, too false, for Kerry to compete with the president in the steadfastness stakes -- Kerry needs to make flip-flopping sound patriotic. Flip-flopping as American as burger-flipping. Kerry needs a narrative.
How's this? "The president says I've changed my mind on Iraq. Well, yes. Blind certainty is fine for Soviet ideologues, and Islamic fanatics, but I am an American. I believe that pragmatism is the American genius. This country was built by individuals who found themselves on an unfamiliar continent, in a promised land that wasn't always what they'd been promised."
"Americans, when they watch the chaos in Iraq, don't make believe, like the president does. The early settlers didn't stick their heads in the sand, and make believe. They picked themselves up, dealt with reality, and adjusted. We're also in an unfamiliar world. Attacked at home. Unwelcome, in a country we thought we had liberated. But we're Americans, so we deal with it, and adjust, and we will, as we always have done, prevail."
Okay, yeah, I should probably stick with my day job.
