Andrew Hagen

Democratic candidate for Vice-President John Edwards at the Democratic National Convention in Boston said in his speech: (*)

We are approaching the third anniversary of September 11th, and I can tell you that when we’re in office, it won’t take us three years to get the reforms in our intelligence we need to protect our country. We will do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to make sure that never happens again, not to our America.

This is a valid point, although an MSNBC analysis by Frank Luntz found voters turned off by it.

When John [Kerry] is president, we will listen to the wisdom of the September 11th Commission. We will build and lead strong alliances and safeguard and secure weapons of mass destruction. We will strengthen our homeland security and protect our ports, safeguard our chemical plants, and support our firefighters, police officers and EMT’s. We will always use our military might to keep the American people safe.

That’s vague. Does Edwards accept without objection all of the recommendations of the September 11th Commission? He doesn’t say.

And we will have one clear unmistakable message for al Qaida and the rest of these terrorists. You cannot run. You cannot hide. And we will destroy you.

Good.

John [Kerry] understands personally about fighting in a war. And he knows what our brave men and women are going through in another war—the war in Iraq.

Note how Edwards stealthily implies that the war in Iraq might not be part of the War on Terrorism. That’s disappointing.

We should not underestimate the value of Kerry’s military service and combat experience.

Nevertheless, fighting communists in a containment war in Vietnam is much different than fighting radical Islamist terrorists around the globe in a 21st century war of national survival. Do Kerry and Edwards understand the nature of the war we are fighting? Do they understand that it is a war to protect our lives and our freedom? Are they ready and willing to initiate further military action should it prove necessary, such as an invasion of Iran? Alternatively, will they rely exclusively on diplomacy?

Though they need not lay out an entire war plan, Kerry and Edwards should get a little more specific about fighting the war on terrorism.

Put another way, do Kerry and Edwards want to contain terrorism, or do they want to defeat it?

Voters need to be convinced that when it comes to national security, Kerry and Edwards are closer to JFK and FDR than they are to Jimmy Carter and George McGovern. Otherwise, Bush will be re-elected.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 29th, 2004 at 17:16 and is filed under Election 2004. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.