4. To the Undecided Voters

Let me take a moment to speak to the many Americans who remain undecided in this election. You've heard President Bush and myself go back and forth, over and over, and often we seem to say the same thing: I'll keep you safer, I'll create more jobs and get the economy moving again. It may be hard to know who to believe. So let's look at the people, not the policy, for a change. In the last four years, this administration has put lobbyists for special interests at the head of nearly every major government agency. I'm going to name names, so you can check the facts. President Bush's chief of staff is a fellow by the name of Andrew Card. His most recent job? Lobbyist for large corporations opposed to any environmental regulations, including laws protecting our children from toxic smog and soot. Gale Norton, the Secretary of the Interior, is a former lobbyist for large corporations fighting against the endangered species act - her deputies are former lobbyists for mining companies, chemical companies, and oil drilling companies. And the chairman of the Republican Convention's organizing committee was a man named David Norcross. In his spare time, he's a high-paid lobbyist for huge defense contractors. Folks, this is the fox guarding the henhouse. This administration has turned the reins of government over to the special interests. They've slashed health and safety regulations, endangering the lives of our children. They've allowed the big HMOs to exchange your private medical records without your consent. They've attacked the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. And why? Because the people making these rules are themselves lobbyists for special interests. A Kerry administration would be different. Yes, there are times when regulations are too complex and need to be looked at. But the people doing the looking have to be fair, unbiased, and most of all, open to the public. One more example: Vice President Cheney's so-called "energy plan" was drafted by a group of special interest lobbyists, behind closed doors. We still don't know what they discussed in there, because they won't release the notes to the public. But we do know that when they came out, there was no plan for energy independence, no plan to end our addiction to foreign oil, no plan to protect our environment, and no plan to make America more secure. What did they want to do? Well, drill in the Arctic national wildlife refuge, of course, one of America's last great places, which the big oil companies have been trying to get their hands on for years. That Energy Plan was, point-for-point, what the special interests asked for. You can tell the quality of an administration by its people. This administration is led by folks with a vested interest in undoing our health and safety regulations, and exploiting our national environment. Ultimately, government should be by the people, for the people - not by the lobbyists of special interests, for their exclusive benefit.

Notes: The attempt here is to convert arcane, beltway stuff - which no one cares about - to a character issue, which swing voters do care about. While it does hit a few policy points, there is a Miller-esque apology for doing so, and a clear context: this is about the fox guarding the henhouse. That is a clear, and common-sense-based attack, and it is one on which, again, Kerry has facts on his side. Rarely do candidates speak directly to undecided or uncertain voters, and rarely do they say anything new to them. Usually, it's the same pabulum of security, jobs, etc. By making the election about people, Kerry can return the election to what it should be: a referendum on the (corrupt, industry-biased) administration, which has overwhelmingly negative poll numbers. If the election is about Kerry, he'll probably lose. If it's about Bush, Kerry will probably win.

5. Do You Feel Safer Now than Four Years Ago?

Now we've all heard the folks in the other party say, 'We need to be strong, and understand that there are evil people in the world plotting to do us harm.' As if somehow I don't understand that, or the party which I represent doesn't understand it. My fellow Americans, these are indeed dangerous times. Three years ago, we were attacked, savagely, by forces of evil. The world rallied behind us when we struck back, and our brave men and women in uniform struck back hard. But friends, do you feel safer now than you did four years ago? When you take off your shoes at the airport, and wait in line at security, do you believe your government is doing everything it can to protect you? When you hesitate before opening a suspicious piece of mail, do you believe your government has told you everything you need to know about terrorism? And friends, when you read about what we've gotten ourselves into over there in Iraq, do you believe that your government is doing the best it can to track down and kill Osama Bin Laden and the terrorists who attacked us? There are evil people in the world, and they are plotting to do us harm, and this administration has not done all it has to do to protect us. At a time of war, this president gave a huge tax cut to the wealthiest Americans, starving our government of resources it needs to fight the war on terror. The recommendations of independent commissions, about how best to protect homeland security, have been ignored. And then, as I have said many times, we fought the wrong war at the wrong place at the wrong time. Instead of hunting down the terrorists, and working with our allies to prevent the root causes of terrorism, we've gone on this adventure in Iraq, and alienated our best friends. Instead of demanding that the Saudi government and others stop the spread of poisonous, radical ideas, this administration has given them a free pass. Friends, Iraq had nothing to do with September 11. Saddam Hussein was an evil man, but at times like these, we need to focus on those evildoers who are actually trying to attack us. We are a strong country, a brave country, and we will prevail in this war against terror. But we need to ask the hard questions and not sugarcoat the answers with spin and banners that say 'Mission Accomplished' when the mission is anything but. My fellow Americans, ask yourself this question: are you safer now than you were four years ago? And if you're not, I ask for your vote and your trust this November. I will do everything in my power to secure our borders and defeat those who would do us harm.

Notes: Ripping off - er, 'paying tribute to' - Ronald Reagan may raise a few eyebrows, but there's no one better to learn from than the great communicator himself. By and large, Americans are afraid. Yet they trust Bush more to keep them safe - the latest numbers are 52% to 40%. This despite the fact that all of the new developments that have made us unsafe have come on Bush's watch. Of course, Bush is not himself responsible for 9/11. But he is responsible for what we've done since. If Kerry can link the fears, the anxieties, the uncertainties to the mistaken and confused responses of the Bush administration, he can link fear to Bush. This would be a great act of political jujitsu. Because, values notwithstanding, good ol' boys notwithstanding, what Zell Miller and Karl Rove knew very well is that fear is Bush's greatest weapon. I believe it can be turned against him.

[1]       [2]       [3]       [4]       [5]       6 Image: Werner Horvath

Jay Michaelson, a 1997 graduate of Yale Law School and former clerk on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, will be poll-watching for Lawyers for Kerry in Florida this November. After that, he will be going on a six week silent meditation retreat.

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