It is still early and there are too many uncontrollable variables to be confident of any settled trend lines, but here is my take on the defining issue in the Bush/Kerry race, and it came to me as I attempted to collate several op/ed pieces that recently appeared during the same week: David Brooks confessed his doubts about our tactical and operational policies in Iraq, but, in the end says that, although the Bush team and the “hawks”(me included) were wrong about many things, we were right about the one “big thing”; E. J. Dionne opines that the election is now about the “practical” results of Bush’s war policies, reminding me of Michael Dukakis’s misguided theme that the 1988 election was about “competence”; and former Al Gore chief of staff Ron Klain warns the Democrats not to again be fooled into dismissing or belittling George Bush’s messianic themes in his pursuit of universal freedom and democracy around the world. In fact, Klain has the defining issue pegged when he writes, “In the United States, a person who has knowledge must be respected. But someone who shares our values can be trusted. And the choice of a president is ultimately about trust more than respect.”
