I'm convinced! He fired up the base! But what impressed me was how well he reached out to the political center (as he always could do without many equals.) He is indeed an innately tame advocate: it was always the shaky center he relied on to save his political skin when his base rattled in disillusionment and the opposition came brandishing the big knives.
I agree that Clinton spelled out exactly what Kerry needs to pose for. We'll see how well he executes it.
Modu, I think perhaps you're overanalyzing the 'military service' thing to extrapolate that the electorate assosiates it with losing! Bush Sr. and Dole's tours aren't going to penetrate the thought process of any except us junkies.
If Kerry saw some serious action...it's good enough to advertize.
I don't know about Carter's speech...it didn't strike a chord with me. It was persuasive to an extent, but it also recalled President Carter's own bull-dogged stubborn (and ineffectual) governance of foreign policy. To the extent he reminds people of how his idealism got in the way of his success...the speaker starts to obscure his words, however true they may be.
