Tune in, turn on and try not to yawn, the presidential debates are here. All you need to know about these debates is this: \Candidates may not ask each other direct questions."" That quote is lifted directly from the debate's official rules and was instituted at the behest of the Bush campaign. The fact that Bush does not want Kerry asking any questions tells us a lot about both men.
That fact tells us Bush is all about image-from the ""Mission Accomplished"" banner to a swagger daring his enemies to ""bring it on."" His rhetoric is lukewarm, platitudinous oatmeal, wholly at odds with his actions. The way to show people that Bush's affectations are just so much smelly gas is simple: Ask biting questions that highlight the gap between the words and reality. Bush realizes this, thus there will be no opportunity for biting questions.
Bush's genius as a politician, so far, is to convince a good plurality of Americans that we ought to judge him on his strut and platitudes rather than his actions. That strategy works because this president has never been honestly questioned about the discrepancies between his lame rhetoric and the brutal reality of events.
This administration avoids questions like the plague. Citizens attempting to protest Bush's rallies are caged off in Orwellian ""free-speech zones."" Prior to the election season, Bush mostly spoke in front of military folk-people who legally cannot criticize the president in public. And when he went before the 9/11 Commission this year, Vice President Cheney was there to hold his hand behind closed doors.
In turn, Bush demands that we judge Kerry by his ""flip-flops."" Bush wants us to judge Kerry on the basis of actions because Bush knows that if we judge him on what has transpired during his presidency, the ensuing comparison will leave him politically crippled.
It simply comes down to fear. Tough-guy Bush is simply afraid that Kerry might ask hard questions. He's all too aware that Kerry was the one who came back from the hell of Vietnam and asked the crusty men who were responsible, ""How can you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?""
That past moral courage scares Bush. And it also shows us something very basic and revealing about Kerry. Namely, he was not always coated in the ooze of D.C. politics. Once, he was a brave man.
Listen closely to the ""debate"" tonight and maybe you will find that somewhere inside Kerry there's still that brave man. Our best hope is that the brave man re-emerges and asks direct questions about the dying Americans and Iraqis of today's war just as he asked direct questions about the dying Americans and Vietnamese of yesterday's war.
opinion@dailycardinal.com.
