It’s the biggest story in America and a devastating development for Bush, the kind of story that can literally affect the outcome of the presidential campaign. And yet John Kerry, who’s been on vacation, has hardly said a word about Richard Clarke.
A careless mistake? A missed opportunity? Neither. Kerry’s reticence not only makes sense, it’s a brilliant move.
The national press has repeatedly given Kerry a chance to comment on the Clarke bombshell, but Kerry has demurred every time.
On the final full day of his vacation, he snowboarded, along with a gaggle of Secret Service agents. As he headed for the slopes at the Warm Springs resort, the Massachusetts senator was questioned about the book and the White House’s fierce rebuttal to it.
“I don’t know anything about it,” he told reporters. “It’s my last hours, my last hours.”
He said he planned to read the book today, when it arrives by express overnight mail, as he returns to Washington to resume his quest for the presidency.
Initially, I couldn’t imagine why Kerry didn’t want in on this story. Clarke’s charges have thrown Bush on the defensive like almost nothing else could. It’s a controversy that takes Bush’s one perceived strength — leadership on the war on terror — and blows it out of the water.
Why hasn’t Kerry jumped in? Because he doesn’t have to.
Right now, Richard Clarke has single-handedly put the political world in a frenzy. His charges, stature, credibility, and experience have pushed the White House into panic mode.
Why in the world should Kerry interfere? As it’s unfolded, Clarke’s account of Bush’s counterterrorism failures is a substantive story about the first-hand experiences of a man whose prescient warnings were ignored and a president whose priorities have been consistently misguided.
If Kerry becomes a central player in this controversy, the public may start to perceive the story as just another campaign squabble between Dems and Republicans. It would be the latest partisan attack in a campaign filled with them and voters would be less inclined to take it seriously.
Instead, Kerry steps back, allows the story to blossom, and watches from a distance with glee.
In this case, silence was golden.