MemorandumTo: John Kerry
From: The Fields Report
Re: Stick it to GWB on foreign policy
Noting that despite GWB’s falling poll numbers, your numbers have held steady even as Iraq disintegrates. I urge you to make graduated steps toward more direct challenges on GWB’s foreign policy acumen or lack thereof. Americans are not keen to point out another’s lack of intelligence. This partially accounts for GWB’s enduring popularity in the face of his startling inarticulateness and shaky grasp of the complexities of foreign policy. Without characterizing the president as stupid, I recommend implying this point without being too obvious. Outlined below are my recommendations for making distinctions in your foreign policy experience and comfort level while highlighting not only GWB’s shortcomings, but his reluctance and fear to face the American people and the media lest he be caught in an uncomfortable situation of having to speak in detail about policy.
1. Make this election a referendum on policy. Question GWB on specifics on the stump. Question his vision beyond June 30. What is it? Is “I’m a war president” his vision for American foreign policy? There is a world outside of Iraq. Is GWB aware of that? Make sure the American people know that this doesn’t seem to be the case. Ask GWB these questions from the stump.
2. Keep pushing the debate challenge. GWB’s people will obviously never accept weekly debates. There will be the usual three debates and Bush will initially object to whatever the proposed format is. Use this to your advantage. Beat him to the punch. Emphasize that we live in unprecedented times, yet this president won’t debate you on the issues. Issue weekly challenges. Consider Al Gore’s strategy of showing up on Larry King with or without Bush. Read Elizabeth Bumiller’s
article “The Other Long Occupation: Bush in a Bubble,” on how GWB shuns answering any questions even from his own party when the going gets tough. Make this into a leadership issue.
3. Contrast Bush’s crisis leadership with other presidents. Emphasize his reluctance to talk to the American people. Jack Kennedy publicly took responsibility for the Bay of Pigs failure. Remind the American people that globally, things certainly don’t look good, yet this president can’t seem to think of any mistakes he’s made.
4. Continue to lay out policy initiatives. Push beyond generalities. Demonstrate that you think, plan, and adjust, whereas GWB simply reacts (the only way to get him to talk to the nation is for poll numbers to really drop). What’s his plan if Iraq descends further into chaos after the handover? What are the specifics? His first Iraq handover speech was simply a restatement of things we already knew. Critics contend that you aren’t saying what you would do in Iraq. Remind them that GWB hasn’t told the American people what he’s going to do and he’s POTUS.
5. Invoke the ‘A’ word: Afghanistan. Please read Seymour Hersh’s
article in the
New Yorker (no not the scathing pieces on prison abuse) titled “Bush’s Afghanistan Problem” for inspiration. The stump line should be “If Afghanistan is any indication, Iraq is going to descend further into chaos.”
6. Begin to lay out a future grand strategy for the U.S. Start small and expand as the campaign moves on. But move past the war on terrorism. Remind the American people that Bush can’t seem to think about two issues at once. Detail your vision for what the world should look like. Contrast Bush’s reliance on the war on terrorism as his foreign policy with your vision of U.S. leadership in the world.
