Iraq Is Not Just Bush's Problem

John Kerry has been a very good democrat these past few weeks, roaming the country, talking up the bran-muffin issues that Democrats really, really care about: education and health care. He's even been a wee bit adventurous. He challenged the teachers' unions with a clever deal--more pay in return for less job protection (it is nearly impossible to fire a lousy teacher these days). Last week he reintroduced his thoughtful health-insurance proposal, which might even be politically plausible--if still not entirely affordable--if the Bush tax cut for people earning more than $200,000 is eliminated.

Of course, practically no one was listening. It was like Nero offering a brilliant water-and-sewage plan for Rome in the midst of the fire. The Bush Iraq policy lay shattered in tiny pieces; the President seemed crestfallen in his public appearances. Indeed, Kerry's message discipline--broken by occasional, measured responses to reporters' questions about the war--almost seemed a clever way to avoid the issue. His audiences waited in vain for a passionate response to the Iraq debacle.

At a town-hall meeting in Orlando, Fla., the tension was broken by a young Army reservist named Charity Thompson, recently returned from Iraq, who said she was having trouble getting medical care from the Veterans Administration. Her story, and her implicit anger about the war, was greeted with a vehement standing ovation. Kerry responded to the health-care point but stayed clear of the war. Later Thompson told me, "I wanted to hear what he had to say about Iraq. I despise this war, and 99.9% of the people I served with feel the same way. We should bring our troops home now. I'd really like to know what Kerry thinks about that."

The answer Thompson eventually receives will be the most important decision Kerry makes in this campaign, but it won't be coming soon--and that is very much by design. In recent months, Kerry's inadequacies have been picked apart by preying pundits, including me. And yes, it would be nice if he were more eloquent, emotive, funny and, above all, courageous. But if nothing else, Kerry has a sophisticated sense of political timing; he knows how to wait until people are paying attention. "I've been with him through six campaigns, and he always scares you in the beginning," a Kerry stalwart told me last week. "But he's always right there in October."