Sunday, March 07, 2004
A Broad Vision for Kerry
speakingcorpse writes:
Dear Senator Kerry:
Mr. Greenberg has given your campaign the winning strategy. His ideas represent a culmination of the campaigning you have already done--appealing to people like veterans and firefighters whose sacrifices for Americans are not being supported or recognized by Bush. What you can do is BROADEN that vision by pointing out that a whole RANGE of ideas--the value of public service, the obligation of public participation, the love of community--are being devalued. You can make broad speeches about all of this, speeches which would continue to appeal to the veteran/firefighter constituencies, but also to all Americans who feel excluded, NOT just from prosperity, but from the collective endeavor. This is the key: invite all of us to join in the American project equally--we all belong, we all deserve a shot, NOT just to make money, but to be leaders, to be HEROES. You could invite us all to be HEROES. Please think about this. This broadened perspective increases your appeal, and it changes the conversation that Bush has started about gay marriage and terror. Furthermore, this new approach is invulnerable to the Bush "class warfare" charge, though it DOES appeal to Americans' real fears about economic inequality. Finally, this approach is perfectly consistent with what you have already been saying and doing.
With respect and excessive concern,
speakingcorpse
posted by Blicero : 3/07/2004 11:35:00 PM
Dear Senator Kerry:
Mr. Greenberg has given your campaign the winning strategy. His ideas represent a culmination of the campaigning you have already done--appealing to people like veterans and firefighters whose sacrifices for Americans are not being supported or recognized by Bush. What you can do is BROADEN that vision by pointing out that a whole RANGE of ideas--the value of public service, the obligation of public participation, the love of community--are being devalued. You can make broad speeches about all of this, speeches which would continue to appeal to the veteran/firefighter constituencies, but also to all Americans who feel excluded, NOT just from prosperity, but from the collective endeavor. This is the key: invite all of us to join in the American project equally--we all belong, we all deserve a shot, NOT just to make money, but to be leaders, to be HEROES. You could invite us all to be HEROES. Please think about this. This broadened perspective increases your appeal, and it changes the conversation that Bush has started about gay marriage and terror. Furthermore, this new approach is invulnerable to the Bush "class warfare" charge, though it DOES appeal to Americans' real fears about economic inequality. Finally, this approach is perfectly consistent with what you have already been saying and doing.
With respect and excessive concern,
speakingcorpse
Fly High Above the Battlefield
By STANLEY B. GREENBERG
The choice is between an America inspired by John F. Kennedy and one shaped by Ronald Reagan. When the alternatives are framed this way, Americans choose the Kennedy vision by a striking 53 percent to 41 percent. It brings increased support for Democrats among voters from across the political spectrum — in small towns and rural areas, in older blue-collar communities, among low-wage and unmarried women as well as young voters and women with a college degree.
Rather than simply criticizing specific policies of the Bush administration, Mr. Kerry should emphasize the worldview it represents. Mr. Bush favors tax cuts for business and the wealthy as the best way to bring about prosperity. He heralds individualism as the key to a healthy community. In his tenure America has retreated at home before our shared problems, but advanced alone abroad. If Mr. Kerry challenges this worldview, Mr. Bush will be forced to defend it.
And the public, far from yearning for a return to Reaganism, is looking for a return to community and country, to a time when every citizen mattered. This is not just John Edwards's vision of an America without class barriers, but a desire for a return to a time of rising opportunity, when people learned responsibility and a commitment to community and nation.
posted by Blicero : 3/07/2004 11:35:00 PM
