According to the Republican ‘attack ads’, John Kerry is a ‘flip-flopper’ who has never seen the side of an issue he doesn’t want to be on. We are told he’s been in favour of education reform and against it; a supporter of affirmative action and an opponent; and both for and against free trade. He has even tried to have it both ways on the death penalty.
Whatever the truth about his past record – and there’s much to suggest that the Republicans are distorting Kerry’s statements and votes – the Democrat candidate has laid out a clear vision of the future direction he wants to take America in domestically if he is elected in November.
Kerry’s economic plan draws much of its inspiration from the ‘New Democrat’ policies that produced prolonged growth, high employment and fiscal discipline during the Clinton years. At the heart of
Kerry’s economic plan is the promise to put the middle class first. Middle-income Americans can expect to retain tax breaks in Kerry’s first budget, while high earners take a visible hit as the Democrat rolls back Bush’s tax breaks for those earning over $200,000. This approach echoes that of Bill Clinton’s successful presidential campaign in 1992.
With job growth currently anemic following the big losses sustained since Bush became president, Kerry is also promising that a Democrat administration will preside over the creation of ten million new jobs in its first four years. An emphasis on growth, rather than the redistribution of wealth, also indicates that Kerry plans to adopt a New Democrat, rather than a more traditional liberal, approach to the economy.
Kerry has also pledged to cut the rising government deficit by half within four years. Again, this chimes with the New Democrat economic approach adopted by the Clinton administration. Kerry’s proposed fiscal austerity may not hit Americans too hard if the economy continues to grow at its current rate. But if growth stalls then the delicate Kerry balancing act of cutting the deficit while not raising middle-class taxes may begin to wobble, just as it did in Clinton’s first year as president, when he was forced to roll back his proposed middle-class tax cut and increase gasoline tax in order to cut the deficit.
After the failure of the Democrats’ last sweeping healthcare reforms in 1994, Kerry has adopted a more pragmatic approach to providing coverage for the millions of currently uninsured Americans. He promises that the work-based health system – by which employers traditionally covered their employees – will be reinvigorated after years of decline. Tax credits will be aimed at providing employers with an incentive to offer health cover. This, coupled with government-targeted assistance for small businesses and low-income families, will, claims the Kerry campaign, raise health coverage to 95 percent of adults and 99 percent of children.
On education, Kerry promises to tie college aid to national civic service, increasing both college enrolment and public participation in civic regeneration. He has pledged four years’ free college tuition at a public college or university in exchange for two years national service. Within a decade, the Kerry plan aims to bring nearly a quarter of a million young people into full-time community work, ranging from homeland security to teaching and environmental work.
The other big domestic question on which a Kerry administration will be judged is, of course, homeland security. President Kerry will have to act fast to reassure Americans he is as strong as his predecessor was perceived to be. Unfortunately for Kerry, there are no instant panaceas for security. A post-election America will be as porous and vulnerable as pre-election America, but what Kerry is planning to do is build on current security policies with plans for, among others, greater interagency intelligence co-ordination and the introduction of benchmarking to gauge local levels of preparedness against terror strikes.
There is also an encouraging libertarian streak to Kerry’s homeland security plan, which rejects the current administration’s policy of detaining indefinitely without access to lawyers US citizens suspected of involvement in terrorism. A Kerry administration would also look into amending the Patriot Act, which has been mired in controversy and has brought worrying levels of intrusion into the private lives of many Americans.
If John Kerry is sworn in next January, the world will no doubt wait anxiously to see if his foreign policies prove less divisive and contentious than those of George Bush. Many Americans will, of course, be hoping for the same. Many more, however, are likely to judge Kerry on those issues closer to home – jobs, the economy, healthcare – that have made George Bush so vulnerable to defeat in November.