Fine Young Cannibals: How the Democratic Party Put a Nice Face on the Morality of Sacrifice

RobertTracinski.com ^ | July 6, 2004 | Robert Tracinski

[Robert Tracinski]

This was the role of Senator Edwards, who dressed up class-warfare cannibalism in a benevolent demeanor--and it is the key to the success of John Kerry.

Kerry does not present himself with a sunny, smiling exterior, but with an appearance better calculated to win the job of president. While Edwards is cheerful, Kerry is grave; while Edwards is fair-haired and boyish, Kerry appears grey-haired and mature; while Edwards is smiling, Kerry adopts a sloped-eyebrowed, sad Basset-hound expression intended to make him appear thoughtful, dignified, senatorial--and, he hopes, presidential.

While Edwards's sunny disposition is calculated to put a nice face on the class-warfare cannibalism of his economic agenda, Kerry's appearance is meant to cover up the most important feature of his campaign--and the one issue on which the Democrats most need the protective façade of a gravely serious demeanor: an agenda of foreign-policy surrender.