"More important, Kerry himself voted for many of Bush's key foreign and domestic measures and he is, at best, an indifferent candidate. His statements and interviews over the past weeks dealing with foreign affairs have been both vague and incoherent. Kerry is neither articulate nor impressive as a candidate or as someone who is likely to formulate an alternative to Bush's foreign and defense policies, which have much more in common with Clinton's than they have differences. To be critical of Bush is scarcely justification for wishful thinking about Kerry."
I have myself recently wondered about the virtues of voting for Kerry. John Lacny reminded me of some good reasons to, but I didn't articulate my confusion well. I wonder not if Kerry, as a Democrat, would be in principle better than Bush--he surely would be, from what history tells us. But Kerry himself doesn't seem all that bright about strategy (at least, judging from the campaign), and shows little ability to lead. No big problem: Bush is neither intelligent nor a gifted leader. But then it matters who Kerry surrounds himself with. So, who are his advisors? Rand Beers and William Perry on FP; Jeffrey Sachs, Roger Altman, Gene Sperling, Jason Furman and Sarah Bianchi on economics. Etc.
To say that these are Clinton retreads--which is more or less true--is a compliment, considering the bunch we have now. To say that Bush's foreign policy is like Clinton's is ridiculous on the face of it. One of them has as his goal to intitiate the Rapture; the other was a garden variety humanitarian imperialist. Whatever the baleful consequences of the latter, I'd choose them over the former without hesitation.
As for criticism of Bush not being a reason to support Kerry, I'd suggest Kolko do a thought experiment: What are the reasons that those who vote for Bush will give? His love of Nascar? Jesus? That he's "a good man"? That "my family has always voted republican"? The idea that we should somehow have "better" reasons for voting for Kerry betrays the weird electoral masochism of the left.
Christian