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Thursday, September 23, 2004
Kerry shows new vigor
By PAMELA HASTEROK
News-Journal Editorial
The boom of mortars and the high-pitched whine of missiles being fired could be heard this week not only on the streets of Iraq, but also on the campaign trail in Florida.
At stops in Jacksonville, Orlando and West Palm Beach, presidential candidate John Kerry launched a strategic attack on President George Bush and his handling of the war in Iraq.
“The management of the war has been arrogant, lacking in candor and incompetent,” Kerry said in Jacksonville at the first press conference he’s held in a month. “We need to change course.”
He whipped a receptive crowd of 10,000 into a merry frenzy in Orlando by reading statements the president made Tuesday that the CIA was guessing as to the conditions on the ground in Iraq.
“The president ought to be turning the CIA upside down, if that’s all they’ve been doing,” he said, eliciting an appreciative roar.
The two-day trip to Florida, with vice presidential candidate John Edwards appearing in Tampa and Miami, marks Kerry’s first campaign trip here since July. Three hurricanes in a month delayed his visit and preoccupied even the most avid voters.
Kerry’s new vim and vigor comes not a moment too soon — 40 days remain until Election Day. Between now and Nov. 2, he not only has to distinguish his policies from the president’s, but also has to persuade voters they would benefit from them.
On the war in Iraq, the differences are stark. Kerry wouldn’t have gone to war without more evidence that Saddam Hussein posed an imminent threat to the United States. He wouldn’t have attacked Iraq without the backing of the United Nations and the aid of America’s allies. And he wouldn’t have started a war without a strategy to win it.
The war is one issue, but it’s not the only issue at stake. At town hall meetings in Jacksonville and West Palm Beach, Floridians were eager to hear about everyday concerns like protecting Social Security and providing affordable health care.
Plenty of people don’t like George Bush, but have yet to embrace Kerry, saying he hasn’t given them a reason to switch their vote. Attacking Bush’s policies aren’t enough. He has to set out his own.
Florida — with its many seniors, veterans and minorities — offered the optimum stage to promote his plans. He would roll back tax breaks for the wealthiest and use the money to gird the nation’s largest entitlement programs, keeping afloat everything from national pensions to veterans hospitals to Medicare.
Kerry’s health plan would subsidize insurance coverage for children, give tax credits to businesses that offer insurance to employees and cover 75 of their costs for catastrophic claims. He would also allow citizens to buy into the federal employees’ health-care plan. About 3 million Floridians have no health insurance.
“The most important thing he said today was giving health care to every child,” said Betty Ruoti, a retired teacher and grandmother of eight in West Palm Beach. “That got to me.”
Beyond offering health care coverage to Americans who don’t have it and lowering costs for those who do, Kerry contends his plan would boost the economy. If more people have health care, more Americans will become healthier. Employers will pay less for premiums and invest the cash in their businesses, hiring more workers.
“I liked his plan,” said Lori Street, a mother and military wife in Jacksonville. “It made economic sense.”
For Kerry to make sense as a better choice for president than George Bush he needs to do more than lob bombs. In Florida, he showed he has other potent weapons in his arsenal.