February 29, 2004

Kerry has a Gerald Ford Moment

Gerald Ford, famously, was hurt badly when he declared Poland to be a free state. Will John Kerry be similarly hurt now that he has declared Haiti a democracy? He should be but probably won't for two reasons, one with a hidden sting. First, it's much further away from election day so it's likely that this will all be forgotten by the time labor day rolls around and the general public starts paying attention. The second reason is the more dangerous one. Because Kerry probably isn't going to get called on this in any serious way (outside the blogosphere), he's much more likely to make this mistake again, and with countries that have more influential emigre populations. Sometimes it doesn't pay to have the media on your side. You can afford to be sloppy too much of the time so your professional standards as a politician tend to slip.

Posted by TMLutas at February 29, 2004 09:36 AM