How to Change a Reputation

If John Kerry has any intentions on making inroads among hawks, he needs to repudiate this:




Unwillingness to use force to retaliate against terrorism or pre-empt attacks.

Inaction in the face of legal obstacles

Animus toward the intelligence community

Fear of unpopularity in the court of domestic and foreign public opinion

Failure to improve the effectiveness of bilateral relations with Arab states and Pakistan.




All of which were Clinton's failures, for eight years, and not Bush's. Bush can perhaps be faulted for not looking for an attack, but it wasn't his weakness that invited it, it was Clinton's. Woe betide those that forget their Machiavelli.


So, John-boy, let's hear it. What are you going to do? Aside from "not pull out," I mean. No one in the administration has suggested that Iraq is the final battle ground in the War on Terror. So what's next?