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[Odler]

by Odler Jeanlouie

Sep 3, 2004

It is election time, and the two major conventions are over.

If there is such a thing as a convention round, the Republicans won it. Last night, in New York, at Madison Square Garden, the GOP ended a well-planned, perfectly executed four-day affair that had for goal to bash Kerry and position Bush as the ideal Commander in Chief for the current trouble times.

The Republican message was simple, almost simplistic: We are at war, we will attack before we are attacked, we don?t care about what the rest of the world thinks, and we will worry about the future (economy, social security, health care) later.

The Democratic message in Boston last month was more complicated: We are not quite at war, but we need to fight; we need to plan the future now, and by the way Bush failed our allies, we need a new Commander in Chief who fits.

The problem is America does not have the attention span to assimilate any formula with a conditional or a subjunctive in it. Just keep it simple, at the present tense. It is not seen how the gurus at the Democratic Party are going to solve this conundrum that was evident in the speeches.

At the Garden, every speaker hammered at the same themes. Giuliani, McCain, Schwarzenegger, Miller (Democratic turncoat), Cheney, etc sang the exact same refrain: Kerry is a flip flop who needs to go away; Bush proved himself, he deserves his second term.

Last month, Barach Obama, in the best oratory performance of the convention, talked about a unified America (the U-ni-ted States), while, the next day, John Edwards preached on his theme of two (separate) Americas. Clinton came up as a policy wonk, while Kerry entertained the audience with his Vietnam record. Was it too much?

The contrast could not be any clearer than in the speeches of the spouses. Theresa Heinz Kerry was born in Mozambique, raised in Europe, married Senator Heinz who died, then Senator Kerry who was divorced. She is older than her husband, she has four kids on her own (on top of Kerry?s three), and speaks five languages which she used to salute the audience at the Fleet Center. Too soapy, too Brady bunch, for middle America.

Laura Welch met GW at a BBQ in Texas, married him three months later, had two girls from him. The girls bear the name of their grandmas, both alive. The family is made of grandma, grandpa, uncles, aunts, cousins, with no loud story of divorce or scandal. That is what America wants to see and hear.

The American elections are not played on the issues, but on emotions and personality traits. The efficiency and discipline of the Republicans confer them superiority for now.

The balloons did not drop at the Fleet, but they all fell from their net at the Garden, last night. Kerry?s so-called Democratic response to Bush?s address was an unprepared flop. He missed his chance while CNN went after him.

In exactly two months from today, America will wake up with a new or a reelected president. In the meantime, the campaigns will spend $1 million a day each on television ads that will play on emotions and personality traits. Kerry will be entangled in complications. Bush will be simplistic and misleading.

The fight promises to be the nastiest ever. May the nastiest win!

Please, visit: http://www.jeanlouie.com/

(OdlerRobert Jeanlouie, Friday, September 03, 2004)