What About 2004 Does Kerry Have To Deal With in 2008? IWR? Flip Flops? [View All]

[DrFunkenstein]

I think that, generally, people will get tired of the old criticisms of Kerry if he effectively deals with them during the primary.

I also believe that alot of people will have buyer's remorse with Bush as his policies come to fruition. This is a big plus for Kerry, but he will not be facing Bush.

A few things off the top of my head:

1. The flip-flop. Kerry must get people to believe he is consistent, but I also think people will tire of this lame term (unless the media decides to axe Kerry with it just for giggles). In fact, I think most of the conservative crap about being French-looking and whatever will not age very well. Mostly because it's all pretty retarded.

The flip-flop is important to note, though. The origin of the term comes from Kerry's 2004 albatross: the IWR vote. This took Kerry (rightly or wrongly) out of his game from the start. 2008 will allow Kerry to come out running, not stammering about nuances.

2. Long, boring speeches. Kerry needs to learn "short and sweet." And he needs to talk not like a "regular guy" (God forbid), but with more directness. Screw Kennedy-esque. If Kerry doesn't take some lessons on getting to the (friggin') point, I can't see him making it past Hillary.

3. Having an agenda. Kerry could have picked the war on terror, health care, the economy, or alternative energy as his campaign platform. But picking all of them doesn't really work. Pick a specific future policy that people can look forward to. Hillary will likely aim to get people wishing for another Clinton economy and Kerry will need to counter this.

4. Establish a relationship with the media. In 2004, the media despised Kerry from the time he formed his exploratory committee. He absolutely must find a more effective way of getting the 24-hour media on his side. And that includes profiles of his personality. Give them an ice cream cone or something.

5. Teresa. It will be very interesting how the media responds to Teresa while Hillary is in the running.

6. The Swift Boat Veterans. Kerry can easily (if done right) use the SBVs as shield against further smear campaigns. I am absolutely convinced that these scumbags can be used FOR Kerry in 2008.

7. Switch to ice hockey. The windsurfing and ski-boarding could have been used to show Kerry as more in touch with the youth market, but his media handlers sat on their hands while the right-wingers painted him as isolated and, well, out to sea. At the same time, though, try to keep Kerry out of skin-tight clothes.

8. Vietnam. Unless you plan to draw an effective parallel to Iraq, please don't ever utter this word again. Unless you want to talk about the time you went with McCain for the first time he revisited his old prison and then you normalized relations as bi-partisan chums. That story'll come in handy down the road.

9. An enormous fund-raising apparatus. This will come in handy, too.

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I'm sure there are plenty of other things to think about. My question to DU is what do you think the benefits and burdens of 2004 will be for the next Kerry campaign?