Last week, Michael Kinsley had a terrific column explaining the use (and abuse) of “optimism” in campaigns. Yesterday, John Kerry did a nice job flipping it.
As Kinsley put it, optimism seems to go hand-in-hand with incumbency.
It’s a bit of a cheat for the incumbent to accuse his opponent of pessimism. By the very nature of elections, the side in power is going to argue that things are going well, and the side in opposition is going to argue that things are going badly. It is awfully convenient for the side in power if the canons of optimism forbid any assertion that things are going badly — even if they are.
If John Kerry were optimistic, the argument goes, then he wouldn’t be pointing out all the terrible things Bush has done as president.
It’s why I was particularly pleased to see Kerry put a solid new spin on this argument yesterday.
“This administration says this is the best economy of our lifetime,” he told the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago. “They say this is the best that we can do. They’ve even called us pessimists because we dared to tell the truth about the people without health care” and about shortcomings in the Bush administration’s education and prescription-drug initiatives, he said.
“Well, I say, the most pessimistic thing that you can say is that we can’t do better in the United States of America,” Mr. Kerry continued, trying out a new rhetorical riff.
And quite a riff it is. Kinsley’s point is still spot on — if you’re the incumbent, you want to smile and tell everyone that the status quo is nirvana. As such, Bush will continue to say Kerry is pessimistic, because he’s pointing to the failures of the last four years.
Kerry turned this on its head in Chicago. Bush is a pessimist because he thinks the status quo is good enough.
“Don’t tell us that two million lost jobs is the best we can do,” he said. “Don’t tell us overcrowded schools and underpaid teachers are the best that we can do. We can do better — and we will.”
Mr. Kerry also recalled the disputed 2000 presidential election: “And don’t tell us that it is the best we can do when in the last election, two million votes weren’t even counted,” he said. “Don’t tell us that people who are harassed and intimidated from going to the polls, something we thought we resolved in the 1960’s, and it still happens in the dawn of the 21st century; don’t tell us that.
“We can do better, and we will do better this time,” he said, bringing most of the crowd to its feet.
Damn straight. Looking ahead to how America can be stronger and more secure is an inherently optimistic message. I hope this is quickly incorporated into the stump speech.
Some of this is just semantics. In fact, nearly all of it is. But as a rhetorical spin, this “we can do better” theme seems to strike the perfect chord.