Karl Rove in August before the ‘02 election keenly held back his president’s talk of war until October when voters pay attention to elections, particularly since the administration had dropped the ball in Afghanistan which no longer made the headlines, cooling the hot image of Bush as a wartime leader. Rove also knew that dread implanted in the social consciousness above all else in politics is the primary drive and would dwarf the Democrats’ calculation that it was the economy most in the minds of voters. Thus began the surreal propaganda of Saddam and his WMDs that wiped out possible choices for voters clouded by trumped up fear.
The Republican convention, with ground zero close by, again reared the ugly head of dread to revitalize the President’s image as a wartime commander in chief. Jobs, outsourcing , health care, social security, welfare, minimum wage are tossed in the shredder — except “values,” of course. There is no equal to the brazenness of the Republican Party. In face of a blundering war, it is hailed as a historical liberation of a grateful Muslim nation and that the insurrection will be but a smudge on the page of heroic history. For American voters to reject their enduring savior and warrior would be blasphemy and the wrath of God will wreak greater dread upon our sacred soil if they dared to choose a non-canonized leader who would change the course effecting the apocalypse.
Kerry must fight dread with dread: that to stay the course of incompetent strategy of antagonist rather than protagonist is to provoke more terrorism, not less. The aimless presence in Iraq is an affront to our troops who cannot be effective with obscure orders and open borders. To postulate democratization of Iraq in face of a Shia majority bent on theocracy is unrealistic. To expect Iran to have no influence on the outcome of the political arena stuffed with Shiites is indicative of glaring shortcomings of the administration. The Sunni benefactors of secularism for thirty years will not stand idly by while the Shia asserts its theocratic will, and the Kurds will openly declare independence. Carter was crucified for hostages in Iran, while kidnaping and beheading are explained away as the rule of terrorism. The President had a golden opportunity when he went before the UN to admit to mistakes and heal international wounds; instead, he used it as a platform to show his resolve for the purpose of reelection. Kerry must stress that “four more years” means more of the same of international chaos and spiraling dread.
Copyright © 2004 Richard R. Kennedy All rights reserved. Revised: September 22, 2004.
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