Kerry sounds viable

I listened to Kerry's victory speech last night and was impressed. Perhaps because he's an ideological opportunist (yeah, this is going to be a left-handed compliment at best), he has absorbed the best messages from the other candidates. I thought his rhetoric and the set of issues he propounded were right on. (I wish the Internet and innovation were on his radar screen, but that's my own little "special interest.")

I just hope that he hasn't peaked. All three Boston Globe columnists today worry that his shallowness will be exposed over the long term. Why is he running, other than to dethrone King W? I believe Edwards and Dean had issues that kept them going, in addition to their personal ambition of course. Edwards cared about the immorality of there being two Americas. Dean had an inchoate vision of what a great country set free from special interests could do. I honestly can't tell you what gets Kerry going. And I've been paying attention.

I desperately hope Kerry figures it out.

The item on his list that struck me as having the most potential — keeping in mind that I have never ever once been right about this sort of thing — is the idea that Bush the Uniter has been Bush the Divider. Maybe Kerry's announced destiny is to pull America together again, rejecting the wedge politics Bush has been practicing here and abroad. Of course, I'm predisposed to this message as a registered Deaniac and Netiac.

Mini Bogus Contest: What Kerry bumpersticker would be worth driving down the re-sale value of your car?