And So The End Begins

It's Tuesday, February 17, the day that will very likely mark the end for Howard Dean as a candidate for President of the United States. Today the voters in the Wisconsin Democratic primaries go to the polls, and if the early polls are any indication, they plan on handing Howie another stinging defeat.

It's been a long strange trip for Mr. Dean, but one that is coming to an end. It really is time for Dean to bow out gracefully. Failure to do so will relegate him to Sharpton/Kucinich laughingstock fodder - just like the Iowa speech did.

How concerned is current front-runner John Kerry about the other Dems? Not very. He apparently took one of the lamest shots at the President I have ever seen:

Chiding Bush for taking time out Sunday to attend the Daytona 500, the Massachusetts senator said the country was bleeding jobs while the president posed for a "photo opportunity." Bush had donned a racing jacket to officially open NASCAR's most prestigious event in front of some 180,000 fans.

"We don't need a president who just says, 'Gentlemen start your engines,"' Kerry said. "We need a president who says, 'America, let's start our economy and put people back to work."'

"America, let's start our economy and put people back to work"? When it comes to lame slogans that has to rank right up there with the worst of them.

I can understand Kerry's aversion to the President going out on the campaign trail. I can understand Kerry's concern that Bush might actually have a good time at the race - which would help him to connect with the NASCAR Dad.

But what action, what critical decision, does Kerry think that Bush missed while spending two hours at Daytona International Speedway? The slogan is lame, but where is the alternative idea from Kerry? It's nice to say things are wrong, but where is the idea to fix them?

Communism should have proved once and for all that government by sloganeering doesn't work. When things aren't working, a pithy saying won't fix them.

And so today, the tone of the Democratic debate turns from rage and anger to whining and complaining. I've heard a lot from Kerry about everything he thinks Bush has done wrong. But I still have yet to hear, outside of taxing us into prosperity, what John Kerry would do different.