Kerry Has No Business Being Casual
On the road again. This time in Boulder,Colorado for my nephew's high school graduation. Not much time for writing of any length, what with all the family obligations and all. Here's an e-mail from Shawn on why John Kerry will not be the next President of the United States:
I was sitting there this morning contemplating the universe, in a Seinfeldian sort of way, when I began to think about the current election and trying to understand the current Democratic candidate and the party's behavior.
Understand first that while I was a Nixon youth, too young to actually have voted for him though, I was never a big Reagan fan, until the second term. And of course I'm a much bigger fan now.
And as a student of history the current partisanship doesn't bother me it's really nothing new nor is the tone. But I am puzzled by the absolutely infantile behavior on the part of the Democrats. That made me think about Mr. Carter, whom I casually disliked, but grew to like more once he was out of office. The whole Habitat for Humanity, fishing and outdoorsy stuff that made me feel he was not that bad a guy.
A view now turned upside down and I actually think I dislike him more then even Clinton, whom I regard as a mere glib opportunist. ( Actually if there is a better poster child for the corporate malfeasance that marked Worldcom and Enron then Clinton and his attitude and demeanor, I can't think of one. )
That made me think about the images of Clinton, Carter, Reagan, Dole, et al.
And that's when it hit me and made me feel a little better about the upcoming election. The one thing that seem to be common to all the last several presidents, is not their world views or domestic or foreign policy. Certainly not their speaking style, all but Reagan have been uniformly mediocre.
It is that all looked comfortable in casual middle to lower class casual clothes and activities. Think about it.
Carter canoeing, crawfishing,leaning back feet up on the porch, muddy, dusty, in jeans, shorts and worn denim shirts.
Clinton, golfing , jogging, just oozing that backwoods country boy charm.
Reagan working on the ranch clearing brush.
Bush 41-golfing , bass fishing with the small (albeit expensive) boat.
And now GW Bush working his ranch, out getting his hands dirty.
This is the image that sells. Heck good tailoring can make just about anybody look Presidential, so we don't register those images. They are interchangeable in our minds.
But let's face it for a lot of people who don't follow politics and even some of us who do, it often is not just, or even ever, the issues or policy.
It's who looks and acts most like us. Doing the things we all do, at home and for fun.
That is a fatal problem for Kerry. Look at the pictures of Kerry biking and snowboarding, and while both are popular activities he does not have that easy casual look while doing them. He is much to well turned out. He doesn't make a connection with the average voter who does those things.
Look at the bikers you see every day around town only a small percentage actually does the full race look that Kerry had. It is telling that the times I have seen Kerry in casual mode and looking comfortable is when he is on the deck of a yacht. Granted the first JFK did the same but he also had the collegiate touch football game on the quad look going.
The casual touch is something that actually goes way back in politics, I remember an old PR photo I believe it was of Harding that purported to show the president at work on the farm. Well worn coveralls, pitchfork leaning against a hayrack. The only problem is that he was wearing highly polished black low quarter cap toe dress shoes. Not the battered high top brown work boots a farmer of that time would wear.
But Bush actually does these things with ease. Coupled with the unguarded moment things, hugging a member of a crowd who had lost a loved one in the war, the probably ribald joke to his wife when he say the elephants mating during a photo op, yes even the flight suit and the "fake" turkey. You see a natural zest and natural ease. Much like, and it pains me to say this, Clinton had. It is a culmination of things like this, that I think, and hope, will give the President the critical edge with the undecided voters.
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