Thursday, November 04, 2004

"Kerry never communicated is person..."

I have heard again and again that the reason Kerry lost is because he did not effectively communicate who he is as a person. That he never introduced himself to Americans.

I reject this as supremely absurd and beyond riduculous.

The reality is that he did effectively communicate his personhood. He effectively broadcast his policies, ideals, personality, etc. Americans saw, understood, and decided who shall be President of the United States based on the full disclosure of Kerry on Kerry.

The decision was: No, thank you. Period.

No amount of revelations or communications would have changed the outcome (untruths and malicious manipulations notwithstanding). Kerry came, was seen, and was rejected precisely because he is who he is and what he believes. There's nothing underhanded or mean about that rejection. It is a reality of a presidential election. One (or more) guy loses - and there's nothing wrong with that.

1 comment:

NWJR said...

I said all along that Kerry couldn't win on a platform of "I hate Bush". You can't win by being *against* something, but rather by being *for* something. If Kerry made any huge mistakes, it was in his inability or unwillingness to condense his message down into manageable sound bites. Bush: "I will keep you safe". Kerry: "We can do better". Ugh. Double Ugh. A pox on both your houses, but at least people could *understand* what Bush was trying to say.

What bothers me is that so many people made their choice based on personality rather than positions. I heard so many times that "Kerry isn't a regular guy." Well, neither is Harvard- and Yale-educated Multimillionaire Oil Baron Fortunate Son GW Bush. NEITHER of these guys is a "regular guy". Good grief, there was some NASCAR driver who based his support for Bush on the fact that Bush had a ranch in Texas, and Kerry had a vacation home in New England. No kidding.

Sadly, it often does come down to personality, warmth, and likeability. Reagan won two terms that way. So did Clinton. It's largely about image and popularity. God help us, I thought that High School was over.

Thanks for your thoughts; I appreciate what you have to say here.