{"id":1856,"date":"2004-03-08T09:28:21","date_gmt":"2004-03-08T14:28:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kith.org\/journals\/vardibidian\/2004\/03\/08\/1856.html"},"modified":"2018-03-12T16:45:23","modified_gmt":"2018-03-12T21:45:23","slug":"note-to-john-kerry-second-draf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/2004\/03\/08\/note-to-john-kerry-second-draf\/","title":{"rendered":"Note to John Kerry: Second Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is a second draft of a note to Senator Kerry; the first draft<\/a> was too long, and not clear enough. I hope this version is clearer; I know it’s shorter, and I hope it’s short enough. Further help would be appreciated. It’s nice to know editors.<\/I>\n

Senator Kerry,\n

First, congratulations and well done. You show no sign of needing advice, so, of course, I join the rush to provide it. I won’t be the first person to point out that you need to create a frame, through which citizens can interpret your actions and those of President Bush. I don’t know whether I’ll be the first to put it like this: President Bush and his Inner Circle betrayed ordinary Republicans by their incompetence, cronyism and secrecy<\/I>. I happen to believe this is true, and I know there are Republicans who are already saying it in public. I also doubt this will convince most Republicans to vote for you, but nothing will. I do think that it could well be a frame that most independents will believe, and which will keep them from voting for him.\n

My advice is inspired by FDR’s nomination speech in 1932. If you haven’t read it recently, I think you would enjoy it; much in it relates to its time, of course, but a couple of points that President Roosevelt makes right at the beginning of his speech, can be adapted and adopted for your own. First, he broke with tradition by actually appearing at the convention; he turns this presumption into a symbol not only of his forward-looking style, but of his essential openness and honesty. You are in a similar position; most of the country thinks the entire Convention is a sham. Between now and that Convention, show that you are not the sort of person who delights in sham.\n

Our current administration is obsessively secretive. Secrecy breeds distrust. I think that you can convince many people that you would be a different sort of President, and a better one, by showing your disdain for pretense, for unnecessary secrecy, and for sham. Remind people of the process by which Dick Cheney chose the Vice-Presidential nominee in 2000, and contrast it with a process that is clearly as open as good taste, courtesy, and respect will allow. Whether you announce that choice before the convention, or decide that it would be presumptuous to do so, make it clear what you are doing.\n

Decide what purpose you want this summer’s Convention to actually serve, and announce that purpose. Introduce your speechwriters, and discuss in an interview how useful they are in helping you articulate your thoughts. Another high-risk possibility is to underline the insularity of the current administration by having some of your advisors and staff admit to some minor policy differences with you, and your amicable discussions about them. Make it clear that you are starting as you mean to go on, as FDR did, by saying what he was doing, and by doing what he said.\n

Also in the speech, President Roosevelt made it clear that he was criticizing the Republican leadership, rather than the Republican Party. He says, “Here and now I invite those nominal Republicans who find that their conscience cannot be squared with the groping and the failure of their party leaders to join hands with us...”\n

Please, Senator, recognize that the leadership of the Republican Party has once again failed the membership of that Party. Please make it clear that the current administration does not serve the interests of Republican voters. And please, please make it clear that you do not criticize Republican voters, and you have no ill-will towards them. Their President has betrayed them far more than he has betrayed us. This administration is the administration of the elite within the Republican Party, rather than the Republican Party. Many Republicans will find that they cannot square their consciences, not with the groping and failure of their leaders, which is bad enough, but by the greed, secrecy, and insularity of those leaders.\n

Ultimately, you will frame the choice voters will make. The choice will be between a President who works in secrecy, to the benefit only of a few, and who ignores the people who supported him; and a Senator who will govern openly, honestly, and transparently, to the benefit of all.\n

Redintegro Iraq,
-Vardibidian.\n<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a second draft of a note to Senator Kerry; the first draft was too long, and not clear enough. I hope this version is clearer; I know it\u2019s shorter, and I hope it\u2019s short enough. Further help would…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[201],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-navel-gazing"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1856"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16946,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1856\/revisions\/16946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}