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The Dems push the national security argument
BY IAN DONNIS
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TUESDAY, July 27, 2004 -- The belief that John F. Kerry can do a better job in leading the US in the post 9/11 age of anxiety permeates the Democratic National Convention. During the DNC’s opening night, one of the images that steadily appeared on a giant screen circling the FleetCenter was the legend, "A Stronger America," accompanied by a cheery red background with simulated fireworks exploding in the background. But with some indications showing -- inexplicably in the minds of conventioneers -- that many Americans see President Bush as being more resolute, can the Democrats turn this thinking around? The election could well turn on it. US Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island has the kind of national security credentials -- he’s a West Point graduate and former Army Ranger who serves on the Armed Services Committee -- that lend strength to the Democratic case. In terms of the challenge facing Kerry and John Edwards on this front, Reed told me yesterday, "I think they have to demonstrate their experience and their expertise." He offered a reminder that Kerry is a combat veteran of Vietnam, and said Edwards has "a discerning intellect that will be obvious in the campaign." For the converted, the war in Iraq -- from its preemptive start to the various bungles along the way -- points to the need for some big changes. As Reed notes, in a theme repeated at the convention, the US "is now considered to be a nation without friends in the world. We can’t do anything without a collaborative effort." And even with homeland security rhetoric emanating from the White House, he says, relatively little of it has been adequately backed up -- a finding articulated in alarming detail by the national 9/11 Commission last week. Given all this, you don’t have to be a fan of Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, with its share of unflattering footage of the president’s syntax-challenged remarks, to think the administration lacks in judgment and other national security skills. So why do the Democrats still face a seemingly uphill battle on this issue? Reed says the perception among some that Democrats are weak on defense is a legacy of the last 25 or 30 years. And the simplistic outlook of the Bush White House -- in which the president suggests a black-and-white view of complex global geopolitics -- has "a certain appeal to people."
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