Kinsley in
Slate on Democrats trying to think like Republicans
Kinsley in
Slate nicely points out the folly of Democrats over-thinking the primaries. ABB is turning into a kind of desperation that the RNC can smell and manipulate; i.e. Rove at a 4th of July parade, a reporter handily standing by as he says the Dem. mind-fucking 'that's the one we want' referring to Dean.
Dean tried to use this ABB to tie the whole thing up early, and got burnt. Kerry is using his current big mo' to sit on the 'I'm electable' perception, stiff arm the attacks and ride it out 'til each successive primary gives him some more mo' all the way to the convention. There's no 'vetting' process in that. Which is why some Dean supporters are crying foul that Kerry isn't getting the scrutiny that Dean got (I'm a Dean supporter).
Anyway, Kinsley hits it on the head. Here's some choice quotes:
Nevertheless, Democrats persevere. They ricochet from candidate to candidate, hoping to smell a winner. In effect, they give their proxy to the other party. "If I was a Republican," they ask themselves, "which of these Democratic candidates would I be most likely to vote for?" And by the time this is all over, most of the serious contenders will have been crowned the practical choice for at least a moment.
...
Some Democrats cheated and looked into their hearts, where they found Howard Dean. But he was so appealing that he scared them. This is no moment to vote for a guy just because he inspires you, they thought. If he inspires me, there must be something wrong with him. So, Democrats looked around and rediscovered John Kerry. He'd been there all along, inspiring almost no one. You're not going to find John Kerry inspiring unless you're married to him or he literally saved your life. Obviously neither of those is a strategy that can be rolled out on a national level. But he's got the résumé. And gosh, he sure looks like a president (an "animatronic Lincoln," as my Slate colleague Mickey Kaus uncharitably described him).
I think that's a bit of an oversimplification about Dean, but even the NYT has been saying nice things about his ability to inspire. What 'intangibles' does Kerry have that makes people want to vote for him? I don't get it. And if someone says 'gravitas' I'm going to the clock-tower with a rifle (FBI: just kidding).
