John Kerry for President

The late Senator Paul Wellstone once wrote he never understood the arguments for politicians to move closer to the center, or act more moderate, to become elected. Maybe that was because many of Wellstone's opponents had no problems throwing out the word "liberal" and "left" like they were curse words. Yet Wellstone took it all in stride because he believed left, right and center never mattered; people just want a politics they can believe in and know that it's about them.\nAmericans believe politics should be about them; like a superhero in a comic book, government should use its powers for good and not for evil.\nSo, why is liberalism -- whose essential goals are basically bringing politics back to the people -- demonized? That's not to say liberals don't do a little name-calling of their own. It's just that generally branding someone a liberal is as easy as a paint-by-number picture and branding someone a conservative is as easy as duplicating a Jackson Pollock work down to the last paint drip. In many parts of the Southern, Plains and Western states, being called a liberal can spell certain political doom.\nPundits caricature liberalism as evil, equating it to the fascist days of communists, and tying the idea of social programs to "big government," a phrase and system no one, even liberals, likes. It's because conservative machines can spit out these connections between liberalism and political extremism -- "Liberals want to take away your guns," "Liberals want to take away your gasoline cars," "Liberals want to kill babies" -- that people dread being called the L-word.\nThis political name-calling may cast doubt on the credibility of John F. Kerry, a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, who is running for the 2004 presidential nomination. Certainly out of all the current candidates Kerry boasts the most intimidating credentials: a decorated Vietnam veteran who came back as an anti-war advocate; an international policy expert, serving on the Foreign Relations Committee since his 1984 election; a district prosecutor; a lieutenant governor.\nBut, but…he's an L-word, people will say. They could point to the fact that, yes, he was a lieutenant governor, but under Gov. Michael Dukakis, whose own presidential campaign imploded against George Bush Sr. in 1988. They might concede that, yes, he was a prosecutor, but he's against the death penalty, and note without reservation that he serves in the shadow of Massachusetts' other senator, Ted "liberalism incarnate" Kennedy. Also three out of the four last Democratic presidents were from the South, making him "out of touch."\nSo Kerry needs to escape the harshness of the word liberalism by utilizing what John F. Kennedy (the one of those four presidents who was from the North) once said, by not avoiding who he is and letting America know what he stands for:\n"...if by a liberal they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a liberal, then I'm proud to say I'm a liberal."\nKerry has almost a year to figure it out before the primary elections, but if he can communicate his issues clearly, stand up for what he believes and let people know, "Hey, maybe I'm not a regular guy but I'll undoubtedly stand up for him," maybe this JFK can have the same electoral success as the other JFK.