Summary
As Yglesias discusses, when John F. Kerry finally got around to elaborating his national security agenda, its content--from strengthening homeland security, reforming intelligence, expanding special forces, and emphasizing education aid and other programs to building civil society in the Arab world--was remarkably similar to what Democratic Representative Jim Turner had put forward. But by October 2004, the public was still largely unaware of Democratic plans, less a result of Kerry's foreign policy for The New York Times Magazine is suffused with a sense of surprise that the writer had discovered a coherent agenda lurking at the heart of Kerry's presidential campaign.
See the full content of this document
Extract
Insecurity Blanket
ANYONE PURPORTING TO TELL YOU THE REASON JOHN KERRY lost the election is either fooling himself or fooling you. The origins of any close defeat are necessarily multicausal, and any number of different things could have won it for Kerry.
The media chose to focus on the party's "values" problem. To be sure, that problem exists. But the focus on values misses the other important factor in this election: national security. The Democratic Party has simply never reco...See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
