A to-do list for Kerry
HAND WRINGING and rejoicing both premature. Election is 26 weeks away. Here's to-do list for John Kerry.1. Pick VP. Now. Solo act leaves you defenseless half the time. Endless speculation makes you look indecisive. I'm not going to tell you again who it should be.
2. Stop defending indefensible war. By quibbling with Bush over his making-it-up-as-we-go Iraq war, you are weakening case for change and creating room for Ralph Nader.
Nader's six-months-and-out plan is compelling, even if not "responsible." But are meaningless deaths of Americans and Iraqis responsible? Is torturing Iraqi prisoners and covering it up? Is turning battle for Fallujah over to one of Saddam's generals? Public is turning against this war and you should not be defending it. If public starts to favor it, you're sunk anyway.
3. Carry banner of America's troops. Bush administration sees soldiers as pawns. Won't allow flag-draped coffins to be photographed. Top Bush hawk, Paul Wolfowitz, before Congress recently, didn't even know how many US troops had died in Iraq. He guessed 500. Then it was 722. Who speaks for them? Not Sinclair Broadcasting, big Bush donor that blacked out "Nightline" on its six TV stations so viewers wouldn't have to see Americans who died in Iraq.
4. Keep fighting Vietnam. "War" president's father helped him jump line to beat draft and hide in National Guard. Hid so well no earthling saw him at any Guard meeting in Alabama. Bush allies now question your service, led by same veteran that Nixon used 32 years ago to slime you in run for Congress. This is fight you want.
5. Let Max Cleland fight Cheney. Let triple-amputee, Vietnam veteran, and ex-Senator Cleland deal with quintuple-deferee, Vietnam draft-dodger Dick Cheney.
6. Ride Bush's "Yes, America Can" bus. "As President Bush rumbles through the Midwest this week promoting economic policies in a region that has lost tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs to other countries during his tenure, he is riding in comfort in a luxury bus that was assembled in Canada. And -- mon Dieu -- in an area where they speak French!" (Merci, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
7. Ask Don Evans why Canada is creating jobs while US is bleeding them. Bush's Commerce Secretary likes to say you look French, but how come report from Center for American Progress shows that "had the US kept pace with Canada in job creation since January, 2001, it would have more than 9 million additional jobs." Attention Don: They speak French in parts of Canada; (see #6.)
8. Take unpopular stand. Deal with equivocator charge by taking controversial stand and sticking with it. Suggestion: Insist that if more troops are needed in Iraq, we should re-institute military draft with no deferments. Fighting terror is everyone's responsibility.
9. Talk Howard Dean into getting back into race. You looked great beating him during primaries. Besides, he'll say things about Bush and Iraq that should be said, even if you don't want to. Like abuse of prisoners has to be related to Bush's portraying war as crusade against evildoers. And if Bush won't fire Rumsfeld, let's get Donald Trump to do it.
10. Never forget: Florida is still dictatorship run by President Bush's brother Uday. College paper misquoted you as favoring expanded oil drilling off Florida coast and retracted it next day. But Jeb Bush used governor's office to spread lie across state.
11. Give us one concrete idea. How about laptop computers for every seventh grader in America? Former Maine governor and Armchair Strategist client Angus King got them for every seventh grader in his state. Cost: $37.5 million for four years (less than Pedro Martinez wants). Computer companies fell all over themselves to win contract. "By any measure, the Maine laptop program is a success story," said the chairman of the state Chamber of Commerce and father of seventh-grader.
12. Improve your ads. New TV spots are OK but lack presence. Why 60 seconds? Length guarantees you won't be seen in prime time, where 30 seconds is standard. Why no spot in "Friends" finale? Bargain at $2 million -- 45 million viewers and great publicity.
13. Stick it to Bush -- name of new book of mock Bush bumper stickers. Samples: Asses of Evil; Thanks for Not Paying Attention; Four More Wars; It Takes a Village Idiot; One Person, One Vote (*May Not Apply in Certain States); Leave No Billionaire Behind; Bring Back Monica Lewinsky; and my favorite, We're Gooder!
Dan Payne is a Boston-based media consultant who worked on John Kerry's Senate campaigns and for Michael Dukakis during the 1988 presidential primaries. His column appears regularly in the Globe. 