Over the weekend, I was
expressing concern that most voters weren't sure what Kerry's plans for handling the Iraq situation were. I wanted to see his Iraq plan boiled down and presented in three or four simple bullet points, for maximum clarity.
Well, Kerry was thinking along the same lines:
In prepared remarks, Bush's mistakes, Kerry said, "were not the equivalent of accounting errors. They were colossal failures of judgment -- and judgment is what we look for in a president."
The Democratic presidential nominee made his remarks in a speech prepared for delivery at New York University.
Here come those bullet points!
Kerry offered four immediate steps that he said the president must take to avoid failure in Iraq.
-- Get more help from other nations.
-- Provide better training for Iraqi security forces.
-- Provide benefits to the Iraqi people.
-- Ensure that democratic elections can be held next year as promised.
Interwoven with Kerry's own proposals is a sharp critique of Bush's record:
Kerry contended that Bush has not been honest about the war's rationale or costs. He said the president's decision to go to war against Iraq has distracted from a greater threat to the United States -- more terrorist attacks.
"Iraq was a profound diversion from that war and the battle against our greatest enemy, Osama bin Laden and the terrorists," Kerry said. "Invading Iraq has created a crisis of historic proportions and, if we do not change course, there is the prospect of a war with no end in sight.
This is fantastic. It's a clear statement of what Bush has done wrong, and a clear outline for a better approach.
Cleaning up the Iraq mess -- and getting our troops out -- will not be easy. But at least the public now will know why Kerry is the better choice for getting the job done.