In yesterday’s New York Times , David Brooks takes another, somewhat jaundiced, look at Kerry’s speech. This passage, in particular, makes an important point:

“And it all brings back the memories of Kerry the senator. For though convention viewers may not be aware of it, Kerry has actually had a career since his four months in Vietnam – mostly in the Senate. It’s not true that Kerry is a flaming lefty (he’s a genuine budget hawk and he voted for welfare reform), but he was wrong about just about every major foreign policy judgment of the last two decades. He voted against the first gulf war, against many major weapons systems. He fought to reduce the defense budget. He opposed the deployment of intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Europe in the early 1980’s. He supported the nuclear freeze. His decision to authorize war in Iraq but vote against financing the occupation is the least intellectually coherent position of all possible alternatives.”

Put another way, when it comes to foreign policy, Kerry has no judgment. None at all.

While we’re on this topic, think for a moment of the emphasis that Kerry has placed on the need for America to find itself foreign allies. In a way that is a statement of the obvious. Of course it is preferable that the US should not act alone (and let’s repeat again for those who seem unaware of this fact, in Afghanistan and Iraq, the US did not), but what Kerry appears to have forgotten is that, if it is to have any meaning, an alliance must be for (or against) something. It must have a purpose. Kerry, by contrast, seems to have elevated the notion of ‘alliance’ into a policy objective in and of itself.

Worse, by stressing again and again the importance he attaches to the need for international approval, Kerry has ensured that, as president he would be in deep domestic political trouble if he fails to find himself a few foreign chums. Potential partners overseas will be aware of this and as a result, President Kerry would find that their price for their support has become even more expensive.

You haven’t been very smart, John.