What Would Kerry Do As President?, page 1

Recently ran across this article and found it quite, hmm, umm, 'interesting':
What Would Kerry Do As President? Senator Doesn't Always Answer

In that Kerry is slightly leading in the polls, and the countdown to the election is daily becoming a factor, Senator Kerry, the Democratic Presidential candidate, is being asked more and more questions geared towards the seemingly hypothetical question of:
What would you do in this case or that case if you are/were President?

This article mentions that Senator Kerry was asked:

Kerry this week has blasted the Bush administration for its "failures" in Iraq. On Wednesday, in an interview with American Urban Radio Networks, Kerry called the administration's actions in Iraq "one of the greatest failures of diplomacy and failures of judgment that I have seen in all the time that I've been in public life."

But later, in an interview on CNN, Kerry was asked what he would do differently if he were president.

According to a CNN transcript, anchor Judy Woodruff asked Kerry, "What exactly -- right now -- would you do differently?"

Senator Kerry's response:

Kerry: "Right now, what I would do differently is, I mean, look, I'm not the president, and I didn't create this mess so I don't want to acknowledge a mistake that I haven't made. The president needs to step up and acknowledge that there are difficulties and that the world needs to be involved and they need to reverse their policy that countries that were not involved in supporting us are not going to be part of the reconstruction."

There is more to the above, for he was asked virtually the same question again:

Woodruff: "Senator, you said it was a mistake, not your mistake, but you called it a mistake and also said you wouldn't cut and run. You've acknowledged there may need to be more troops. If there were a President Kerry, he might have to send in more troops. I want to ask you the question you asked during the Vietnam War. How do you ask a man...to be the last to die for a mistake?"

He gave an interesting reply....
Further on, he was asked:

Earlier this week, in an interview with National Public Radio's Bob Edwards, Sen. Kerry was asked about the Bush administration's decision to crack down on Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who has urged his followers to take up arms against U.S. troops.

The U.S.-led coalition shut down Sadr's newspaper for saying Iraqis should kill "American pigs."

NPR's Edwards asked Kerry, "President Bush says Sadr's defiance can't stand. What should the U.S. do?"

Kerry's reply:

Kerry: "Well, ah, it's interesting to hear that when they shut a newspaper that belongs to a legitimate voice in Iraq and, well -- let me, let me, let me change the term 'legitimate.' When they shut a newspaper that belongs a voice, because he has clearly taken on a far more radical tone in recent days and aligned himself with both Hamas and Hezbollah, which is a sort of terrorist alignment. So he has his own set of needs in order to deal with the possible, you know, future spread of terrorism."

Just wanted to point out that Hamas and Hezbollah are both listed as recognized US terrorist organizations:
U.S. Redesignates 25 Foreign Terrorist Organizations

Besides what I have observed, and not going into partisan bashing, what are your thoughts?
Just what will Kerry do if he is President, in regards to Iraq, terrorism, making the US 'safer'......? Personally and objectively, if he doesn't start answering these type questions with certainty, authority, and with factual sureness, he is going to be in trouble come debate time.....thoughts?

seekerof

[Edited on 8-4-2004 by Seekerof]