Flip-Flop, Hedge and Straddle. WAPO on Kerry!

[tobius]

They are going to endorse Kerry, right?

Flip-Flop, Hedge and Straddle

Thursday, March 11, 2004; Page A26

SEN. JOHN F. KERRY of Massachusetts, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, said last week that he would have saved Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide from forced exile. "I would have been prepared to send troops immediately, period," Mr. Kerry said in an interview with the New York Times. Purposeful and decisive, no doubt, and useful as a riposte to Republican portrayals of him as a waffler. But on Feb. 24, when Mr. Aristide's fate still hung in the balance, Mr. Kerry did not sound quite so decisive. He called then for the administration to "do more to preserve the democratic process" and to support a multilateral force including police from Caribbean nations and others. But the most he was ready to advocate in terms of U.S. troops was "a visible show of U.S. military force off the coast."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48096-2004Mar10.html

But Bush reversals differ from Kerry waffles. Mr. Bush seems to his detractors to change course with worrisomely little thought -- and to feel just as sure of himself in his new position as he was in his old...... <snip>

Mr. Kerry has a similar problem for a different reason: It's not always clear what, if anything, he's committed to. The senator's supporters say that what sometimes looks like indecision reflects his devotion to thinking through a problem, to weighing every nuance and potential consequence before leaping to a decision. That's an admirable trait in a world more complex than Mr. Bush at times seems to recognize. But the hedging and subsequent grandstanding on Haiti raise the same question as do Mr. Kerry's campaign-trail straddles on a wide range of issues (trade, No Child Left Behind, the Patriot Act and more): Where are the bedrock principles that would guide him in office? Mr. Kerry's challenge over the coming months will be to convince voters that his decisions are informed by more than caution and political calculation. A president has to know when to send in the Marines, and when not to. Sending them halfway -- keeping them "visible" but "off the coast" -- isn't often going to be the right answer.

[dkf]

1. Maybe everyone will be sick of hearing how Kerry has no convictions

by the election.

I'm sure there's lots more material to come.

[DieboldMustDie]

2. Shrubbie, of course, has several!

Convictions I mean. :evilgrin: