On Monday in New York City, I had lunch with one of my favorite people from CNN and she asked me what I thought John Kerry lost. I think it's simple, but sad. John Kerry lost because I only saw the real John Kerry three times during the whole campaign.
The real John Kerry showed up in the small towns and living rooms of Iowa.
The real John Kerry showed up the night of the first debate, with the weight of the race on his shoulders.
And the real John Kerry showed up on November 3rd. And conceded.
I got a press advisory from John Kerry's Senate office a few days ago about a speech today, a "major speech" on foreign policy. After so many false starts on this, I wonder if the real John Kerry will show up today. I hope he does. Because folks inside the beltway might disagree, but when John Kerry speaks today - he won't be speaking just on the war in Iraq, or just on the 2,000 men and women who've died in a war we were lied into. John Kerry will be speaking for his political future.
The convulted, over-advised, Senate-speak John Kerry has no future in American politics. The real John Kerry, the man who sat in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee so may years ago and asked "how do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?" does.
So here's what I hope we hear today.
I hope that John Kerry stands up and admists he made a mistake in voting for the war. What's the shame in getting it wrong when everyone lied to you? The Secretary of State lied. The CIA Director lied about wmd's being a 'slam dunk' and tthe President lied and went to war not because America had to, but because he wanted to. If you get false and bad information and make a decision based upon that, there is no shame in saying "I got it wrong" and "I would not" vote for the war now.
I hope that John Kerry talks about his trip to Iraq. John Kerry is a private person, too private at time perhaps for a politician - he went to Iraq to see for himself what was happening and when he felt, he flew back from Iraq a few weeks ago in a C-130 with a flag-draped coffin. Imagine personally what that must have been like. A single simple coffin carrying a young American home. John Kerry knows that every single American killed in the line of duty for our country should fly home in the light of day - like I and many others believe - I hope he brings that up because I know that flight was very troubling for him personally, I hope he speaks of that.
I hope that John Kerry points out again that there was no link between Saddam and Osama Bin Laden. There was no link between Iraq and 9-11. There was no link despite the cabal in DC searching and searching for it in the sand dunes. No link. We need to repeat that until finally, everyone really and truly gets it.
And I hope that John Kerry stands up and makes a simple and very important point. When 2,000 men and women have died, when there is no end in sight, when our leaders are leading us further and further down a road with no exits, when that happens it's not pessism to stand up and ask questions. It's not defeatism or negativity. It's what leaders do.
That's what John Kerry was 33 years ago. That's what I hope he is today.