Senator Kerry has a problem, one he’s had his entire life.  Over the past few months, as his campaign comes under closer scrutiny, Kerry’s problem has become more obvious to the American people yet he remains incapable of addressing it.  The problem?  His complete lack of rationale perspective.

Kerry’s first mistake was to insist that the American people focus not on his twenty years in various elected offices, but rather on his Vietnam War record.  Normally, when one looks at two objects, they’re naturally inclined to look at the larger object first, and in Kerry’s case, that would have been his voting record.  Kerry knew the dangerous nature of allowing the relatively moderate American people to see his ultra-liberal voting record and his wavering on a variety of issues.  Kerry decided the American people needed to focus on something else and he decided that it would be his service in Vietnam as a swift boat commander.  His belief that the American people would willingly look at whatever he said demonstrates a lack of perspective causing him to overlook the ease of explaining discrepancies over a twenty years compared to a four month period.

The other critical fact that Kerry overlooked is the natural curiosity of the American people.  They hear about his Purple Hearts, his Bronze Star, and his other awards and want to know how Kerry earned them.  Anyone in touch with the tabloid-loving American populace would know that they are less interested in the official government statements than in the unpolished and occasionally sordid version of events.  From his high plateau, however, Kerry released the official statements of his meritorious service, trotted out a few swift boat sailors to profess their adoration for him, and believed that the American people would blindly accept it.

The importance of having perspective is no more critical than in a combat situation.  Kerry’s one-story treatment of his hero status exacerbated the problem.  Normal people understand that the closer they are to an event, the less able they are to properly describe what actually happened.  If you’re the driver who causes a multi-car accident, you’re going to have a very different explanation of events than the other drivers and the by-stander on the street corner.  It’s a natural human response to exaggerate and embellish our stories about situations in which we are involved, especially if those situations are stressful or tense.  Things appear different from the inside and the stories of Kerry and his shipmates must be similarly understood.  Unfortunately, few in the media were interested in digging any deeper than the official Kerry campaign biography.

In response to this lack of investigative journalism, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth came together.  This organization, comprised of other veterans from Kerry’s swift boat group, includes the officers who served with Kerry.  Because these are not enlisted crewmembers that served under him a different picture is formed.  Now peers are discussing peers instead of subordinates discussing commanders.  As their liberal detractors love to point out, these men weren’t on the same boat as Kerry, but that’s why their observations are valuable and important to the American people.  These officers had the benefit of seeing what happened to Kerry’s ship from the outside and from a slight distance to evaluate Kerry’s capacity to lead.  They give the people what we want: an opposing view and an alternative perspective on the events for which Kerry received awards.  Like those witnesses to the accident, they see things differently and the American people want to know what they saw so they can make up their own mind.

But, in another glaring lack of rationale perspective, the Kerry campaign’s response was to go on the offensive immediately.  Demonstrating their inability to tolerate any questioning of the official story, and simultaneously forcing the Swift Boat Veterans further into the spotlight, the campaign asked for help from one of its most powerful constituencies: the trial lawyers.  Instead of trotting out shipmates to repeat their adulations, the campaign instead chose to send letters threatening lawsuits to the television directors who dared air the allegedly libelous advertisements.

For the Commander in Chief, perspective is especially important because it obviously affects the way in which he views the world and our country’s position in it.  Through movies like the truly libelous Fahrenheit 9/11 and innumerable books, punchlines, and advertisements, Bush is frequently shown an unflattering, alternate perspective of himself.  But, he uses this to his advantage.  In his White House, he is constantly shown alternate perspectives on many issues and uses these alternatives to better shape his policies and political ideology.  His cabinet reflects this desire for perspective.  Colin Powell and Donald Rumsfeld routinely disagree, but Bush makes the final decision after hearing their arguments.  He believes the American people make decisions in a similar manner.  As Kerry has repeatedly demonstrated, he does not share this view.  From his high plateau far above the common people, his aloofness and detachment from reality is tangible and, in the case of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, demonstrable.

Despite glaring contradictions in his voting record suggesting he does go back and forth, Kerry believes he is always correct and he sticks with the decision as if he has never previously made a different one – remember, he voted for the $87 billion before voting against it.  For better or for worse, Bush sticks with his decisions after hearing the various sides, and despite the media’s claims to the contrary, he has apologized for making errors in his service to our country.

The American people must now decide which of these two men makes a better Commander in Chief: the one who knows there are more than two sides involved in every story or decision, or the one who puts out his official statement, story, or position and expects that the opposing views, no matter how verifiable or qualified, simply be ignored.

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