THE SWING INTELLECTUALS GO TO KERRY


As the election approaches, I find it harder and harder to imagine reconciling myself to a Bush victory. The past year has shown a steady withering away of my ambivalence between the Dems flawed instincts on foreign policy and national security and the GOP's horrific domestic agenda. The primary reason of course has been Bush's disastrous handling of the war in Iraq. It has gotten to the point that sensible, committed hawks like Hitchens, Drezner and Sullivan have all endorsed Kerry despite noting they are far more in line with the vision articulated by Bush when it comes to prosecuting the war on terror. In each case, reality trumped vision, competance trumped conviction.


My deepest hope is that other swing voters, no doubt turned off by the Bush's domestic peformance but skeptical about Kerry's security bonifides will choose the hope that Kerry will rise above his limitations as president rather than give into the despair that we can do no better than to watch Bush fail under the weight of limitations for four more years.