9/13/2004 09:26:25 AM|||Nathan Moore|||

Come to think of it, this tagline from the DNC hasn't a peep been heard in about a month. It is yet another casualty in Kerry's quest to find the most holiest of political grails, a reverberating presidential campaign message. Allegedly, the addition of a cross-section of Clintonistas is expected to remedy this malady.

There is one slight, but important problem, here. Though Bill Clinton is the last Democratic winner, he is also one of the party's most marginally effective figures. His coattails have always been just big enough for him, and at times, Hillary. In 1992, with an effective third party spoiler, Bill Clinton won with 43% of the vote. In 1996, against Bob Dole, whose campaign more resembles John Kerry's than George W. Bush's, Clinton garnered 49% of the vote. In 2000, Bush got more votes than Clinton ever did, early calls on Florida, late calls on Georgia, etc., notwithstanding.

Bill Clinton's political path is an exclusive one, well placed in time with one of the more impressive teflon candidates in modern political history. To be sure, Clinton changed his positions drastically during his presidency, but he did so after being elected, and with superb discipline. I just don't think filling the boat with former Clinton advisors is going to get things done. The attributes that made Bill Clinton an effective presidential candidate are noticeably absent from John Kerry, and no quantity of people who breathed the same air Clinton did for a period of years will be able to instill those qualities in the current Democratic challenger.

|||109508612564588914|||Hope is on the Way