Let's be honest: we don't want our politicians to be honest. We want politicians to tell us what we want to hear. There's a reason that if the kids were the electorate, moms would never be elected president. No one wants to be told to eat their vegetables. No voter wants to be told that there's no such thing as a free lunch. Politicians who are frank are usually lauded by the press and public as "plain spoken" or "straight shooters." These politicians do not get elected. Much like for good TV shows such as Arrested Development or Freaks and Geeks, press approval is usually the death knell for a "straight talker."
Take for example, John Kerry's comment that he'd like to go back to the days when terrorism was merely a "nuisance." Now, this seems like a reasonable enough suggestion. Most people don't like the current state of terror many people chose to put themselves in... though people who benefit politically from such hysteria don't mind. But most people would like to go back to those days. Getting struck by lighting is a nuisance. I don't worry about it much unless I see bolts when I'm in the swimming pool: in other words, maybe twice a year.
But the Bush campaign used this to make Kerry seem out of touch: a "pre-9/11" guy, as the hysteria peddlers would have it.
Now given the Republicans' frothing at the mouth reaction to Kerry's comments, it's a bit surprising President Bush's recent admission. The president said it is "up in the air" whether the US can ever be fully safe from terrorism.
In reality, I can't argue with Bush's candor. We will probably never be fully safe against terrorism. We can no more immunize ourselves 100% from terrorism than we can immunize ourselves from other killers like traffic accidents and medical malpractice. We can only minimize the risks... though it's hard to see how the president's foreign policy does anything but increase the risks.
Though I can't argue with the president's frankness, candor is bad politics. The admission, however truthful, makes him seem soft on terrorism. And he wants to convince Americans that Kerry, not he, is soft on terrorism. He's based his campaign on his steadiness and never changing his mind facts be darned in contrast to his opponent's flip flopping and sending mixed messages.
His surrogates, in typical fashion, deflected criticism by accusing Kerry of having the support of the French.
The president also claimed that US security was "much better" despite revelations that hundreds of tons of high explosives are missing in Iraq.
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