Posted on 09/27/2004 6:10:16 AM PDT by kattracks
John Kerry is trying to convince Americans he is more qualified than President Bush to lead the nation, especially during a time of war.But Kerry’s own aides are complaining his has difficulty managing his own campaign.
According to a report in the New York Times this weekend, which described Kerry as "a four-term senator with comparatively little management experience," aides say Kerry too often deliberates even the smallest detail, leaving himself little reaction time to a much swifter Bush-Cheney campaign.
The paper noted that Bush’s background as a business executive and then governor of a large state has allowed him to manage his own campaign with greater success.
Of course, the Times still played Kerry up – quoting some aides as describing Kerry as "uncommonly bright, informed and curious. . . "
But the paper also paints a picture of "analysis paralysis” within the Kerry operation.
Some aides complain their boss gets bogged down in the details, making him slow to take action as he struggles to process and use information.
One aide told the Times he has figured out to influence Kerry: he doesn’t say anything until the very last moment. The waffling Kerry tends to take last minute advice.
Case in point: His staff was recently asked to find out all it could about certain details regarding the Bush administration's Medicare plans.
After his staff did all it could to provide the information, Kerry didn't even use it in a speech on the subject.
His staff says such a waste of their time makes it difficult for them to prepare their boss for the positions he wants to take against his Republican opponent.
". . . The downside to [Kerry's] deliberative executive style, they said, is a campaign that has often moved slowly against a swift opponent, and a candidate who has struggled to synthesize the information he sweeps up into a clear, concise case against Mr. Bush," says the Times. "Even his aides concede that Mr. Kerry can be slow in taking action, bogged down in the very details he is so intent on collecting."
Aides have other complaints, too. Like when Kerry spent more than a month trying to decide on his campaign logo. He was mulling over the font of the logo and whether it should have an American flag. Eventually Kerry decided to keep the flag.
Even diehard liberal the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who has traveled with Kerry's campaign, says although the Massachusetts liberal is a "thinker" by nature, "a boxer needs a manager and needs a cut manager in the corner and needs someone to handle the towels. But once the bell rings, a boxer needs his instincts."
Other Democratic Party stalwarts and officials complain Kerry is more interested in the "finer points" of politics, but doesn't seem too concerned with the mechanics of the business.
"Scott Maddox, the chairman of the Florida Democratic Party, said he could not recall getting a call from Mr. Kerry checking in with what was going on in that critical state," the Times said, in one example.
Florida is considered a "battleground" state; it is headed by George W. Bush's brother, Jeb, but polls indicate the state is still in play.
Aides also say Kerry isn't one to delegate too much power to any one person. There is no "Karl Rove" on his staff, say aides.
"I am always in charge," says Kerry.
Kerry's also not afraid to upbraid his staff – even longtime friends and associates – as well as let staffers go if he feels his campaign is running "off the tracks."
As a result, few loyalists of his 1972 campaign are still around. Now, few who consider themselves friends are currently on his campaign staff.
Meanwhile, President Bush takes advice from a small – and unchanging – gaggle of staffers. His most senior campaign staff hasn't changed in 18 months.
"He's not involved in the details," says Rep. Ted Strickland of Ohio.
They used the same exact words to describe BJC in 1992.....Deja-VU.........what do they do, re-cycle their stories, just change the names?.....
Kerry has completely snubbed half the states in the Country , with his campaign. Only aiming for what he thinks are key states. And evensome of those states he has pulled out of.
Of course, this description could also apply to Benedict Arnold.....
He is a dumb as a post as far as common sense goes. Where do they get this bright stuff? Which is harder, driving a boat down a river or flying a F-102 which was also known as the "Widow Maker"?
KERRYTHINK.
Or his aids for misspeaking, or his SS men for getting in his way....
The last President we had who was crippled by his obssession with minutia was Jimmy Carter. What a disaster that was! Remember Jimmy's controlling the keys to the White House tennis court?
Times now are far too dangerous to put a Mr Whipple in the White House to spend his time squeezing the Charmin.
Hopefully, he will run his own debate preparation and not accept advice from anyone.
Accept when I fall down. Or when my staff makes errors while impersonating me during interviews with Outdoor Life. Or when Joe Lockhart talks to the wrong people. Or when ...
"...uncommonly bright, informed and curious... "< > "They used the same exact words to describe BJC in 1992..."
...bet they'll use the same exact words to describe Hillary! in 2008. (Okay, they may replace "bright" with "brilliant".)
This was exactly my thought. If he can't manage the campaign, how the hell is he going to manage the gov't etc???
sKerry can't even manage to choose between two identical red ties, much less manage a company or a country.
But ties his shoes with great difficulty.
His curious nature is reflected in the rather obtuse and disinterested way he prods his foie gras around his plate with his fork.
Then there are the occasions where he accidentally steps on his hands as he walks.
Dont you mean always in change Mr. J. F(lip flop)K?
If they manage to get their hands on a nuke, chemical agents, or even some anthrax - Kerry will wish to God we had hunted them down and killed THEM while we had the chance!
John Kerry needs time to deliberate? Sort of "stop the world while I think"??? "analysis paralysis” is an apt description of the Senator, yep, suits him very well.
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