One of the arguments Noam Scheiber used to make in favor of Howard Dean was that because Dean was committed to the liberal base only rhetorically he had room to move substantively to the center in the general election campaign and thus would be a strong candidate. Of course, in retrospect, this misses a huge distinction - on balance, it is the LEFT that cares about SUBSTANCE and the RIGHT that cares about RHETORIC. Hence, "reality based community".
Throughout the campaign, bloggers like Andrew Sullivan would moan that Kerry would never rhetorically emphasize the need for democracy in Iraq or acknowledge that we're in a war. Now, Sullivan may be a little looney, but I would posit that at least with regard to the way he places an enlarged importance on a candidates rhetorical commitments, he's fairly representative of Bush voters as a whole. Hell, Andrew probably cares about substance more than most people (remember, he did endorse Kerry after all), and these things still bother him. Keep in mind that Bush Voters in general think No Child Left Behind is a success, think Bush supports the International Criminal Court (not because he actually does, but because his rhetoric SOUNDS like it's something he'd be in favor of), etc, etc.
What could Kerry have done differently? I think two major things - said "We're in a war" and "9/11 changed everything."
Now, you're probably thinking the same thing I'm thinking - "This isn't really a war" and "9/11 didn't really change very much". It doesn't matter. A candidate runs to win, and Bush didn't just pick up these phrases because he felt like it - how much do you want to bet everything was carefully polltested by Rove, Inc.? Would it have been dishonest? I don't think so. Because of the complete vacuousness of each phrase, there's no actual content that could be honest or dishonest. Yet they cause certain feelings that Kerry could have used. Think for example if he had repeated this over and over again in debates or his Convention speech.
"This President is cutting taxes in the middle of a war."
Over and over and over again. Anytime Bush talks about tax cuts, Kerry responds: "You're trying to do something so irresponsible that every other President in the history of our country has rejected - you're trying to cut taxes in the middle of a war."
This has several effects:
- It shows "rhetoric" voters that Kerry cares just as much about whatever "war" we're in as Bush does, or more so
- It protects Kerry from the argument (or the assumption) that he wants to cut taxes for usual liberal spending bonanzas, because the clear implication is that Kerry only wants to keep/raise taxes for the sake of the war, regardless of whether or not this is the case.
Sure, Kerry said this once or twice, but it wasn't very often, and it certainly wasn't to enough effect to create the two impressions I described above.
9/11 changed everything. (well, not really, but certainly some people think it did)
How could Kerry have used this? Everytime Kerry talked about nuclear material in Russia or port security, he could have invoked 9/11. Disadvantage? Liberals like us who hate the way Bush exploits 9/11 get angry. Advantage? A larger population of people who genuinely think one of Bush's best qualifications for office is that he "gets" 9/11 feel better about Kerry.
Why didn't Kerry do these things? I think it's for two reasons - first, a vague commitment to some form of intellectual honesty which, considering the phrases that appeal to the persuadable right are entirely vacuous, is certainly an anchor you don't want to have in a presidential campaign, and second, I think it's from a resentment inside the campaign to what Bush was doing (the same way we resent the Bush campaign) and a desire to avoid it. Except that Bush won. I have no evidence for this, those are just my assumptions...
What happens when a candidate exploits right-wing rhetoric? Look at Barack Obama's keynote.
Don't get me wrong. The people I meet in small towns and big cities, in diners and office parks, they don't expect government to solve all their problems. They know they have to work hard to get ahead and they want to. Go into the collar counties around Chicago, and people will tell you they don't want their tax money wasted by a welfare agency or the Pentagon. Go into any inner city neighborhood, and folks will tell you that government alone can't teach kids to learn. They know that parents have to parent, that children can't achieve unless we raise their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white. No, people don't expect government to solve all their problems. But they sense, deep in their bones, that with just a change in priorities, we can make sure that every child in America has a decent shot at life, and that the doors of opportunity remain open to all. They know we can do better. And they want that choice.
Whether or not that meme on "acting white" exists was recently questioned in a diary, but Obama probably knows a thing or two about what he's talking about. The point is, Obama showing he shares the same concerns as "red rhetoric" voters - welfare money wasted, government's inability to manufacture good kids, whatever - gives him a huge instant nationwide appeal at virtually no cost. Now read what right wing pundits say about Obama. Their scared like hell out of him because they investigate his voting record, they investigate his proposals, and they see he'll probably be one of the most liberal members of the Senate - yet his rhetoric is so attractive that he'll persuade away their base without knowing that they're supporting a Ted Kennedy in sheeps clothing. THAT's what we - the left - should want in a politician. Someone who makes rhetorical agreement with the right but fights like crazy for OUR policies without compromise.
If anyone still disagrees with me, go check out Clinton and Gore's campaign commercials from 1992. They do exactly this over and over again and make Kerry's 2004 commercials - which I thought were pretty good at the time - look ameteurish. I used to know a site where you could do this, but I forget now. If someone knows where, please post it.