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Kerry scores big

Challenger pummels president's record to carry first debate

Oct. 1, 2004 12:00 AM

The 2004 presidential election just got interesting.

In the same week President Bush's lead in the polls began to solidify and it appeared he might be able to ride out this race, he ran into a far better prepared opponent in John Kerry on Thursday night.

This newspaper has been supportive of Bush and much of his prosecution of the Iraq war, but it was clear to us the president was beaten decisively by his challenger in this 90-minute contest.

Interestingly, Bush and Kerry fought their war of words inverse to their approach to terror. While Kerry emphasized a stronger defense - more money, more attention to shoring up the homeland - he was decidedly on the offensive in the debate at the University of Miami. And Bush, who argues we must take the offensive in war and strike before threats materialize, found himself on defense most of the night.

Reaction shots on national TV that wounded the sighing Al Gore so badly in the 2000 round of presidential debates were this time unkind to Bush. The president's pinched face and shifting eyes only seemed to accent Kerry's charge that Bush had "made a colossal error of judgment" by invading Iraq. Kerry in contrast remained calm and confident.

The president tried to fend off his challenger's cool dissection of his Iraq record, by charging Kerry with vacillation and indecision on the issue. But it was Kerry this night who appeared resolute and Bush who seemed to wobble, if not in rhetoric, in bearing.

Kerry exploited the current chaos in Iraq to argue that the president had failed to plan for the peace and has no viable exit strategy. He also used the night to reiterate his plan, first outlined in a Sept. 20 speech at New York University, to ramp up training of Iraqi security forces, bring in allies to shoulder more of the burden, and to hasten reconstruction.

One of Bush's best moments came when he described his meeting with a North Carolina woman who lost her husband in Iraq. "I told her after we prayed and teared up and laughed some, that I thought her husband's sacrifice was noble and worthy. I think (his sacrifice) is worth it because I know in the long term a free Iraq, a free Afghanistan, will set such a powerful example in a part of the world that's desperate for freedom. It will help change the world."

Kerry used the debate to reel off a string of endorsements of his leadership skills.

On some points, the question was less about what to do than about which candidate could do it more effectively. In other words, "Anything you can do, I can do better."

Each candidate claimed to be best suited to gain the cooperation of other countries. Kerry pledged to assemble world leaders to work out a strategy in Iraq: "I know what many of them say, and I know how to bring them back to the table."

But Bush scored effectively by pointing out that Kerry has been offending allies by criticizing coalition members in Iraq and questioning the veracity of the acting prime minister there. Bush said he knows what foreign leaders think, citing his personal discussions with them, driving home his relationship by speaking of "Vladimir" in discussing Russian President Putin.

In his closing comments, Bush countered a swirl of rumors of a possible military draft with a specific reference to the "all-volunteer Army."

Kerry said he would begin bilateral talks to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons programs. Reclusive leader Kim Jong-il has been calling for direct negotiations with the United States. This is a situation in which Bush insists on the current multilateral approach. Five countries, including the United States and China, have been negotiating with North Korea in fits and starts. The broad front makes sense, particularly in getting China to exert pressure on its neighbor.

Historically, a single debate seldom produces dramatic swings in the polls. But Bush will need to face facts that he was badly bested in this contest. Otherwise, he had better prepare to spend the next two bouts, including the last one on Oct. 13 at Arizona State University, on the ropes.

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