One of the strategic master-strokes of Bush’s speech is that it did much to position him as the substantive candidate of change and reform (I wrote about this earlier in the week). Bush’s cause will be helped by the way Kerry has chosen to “fight back.” Earlier today, I caught him saying that he wants this race to be positive and about issues, then he immediately attacked Bush and Cheney for what they did during Vietnam, something that obviously is not positive or substantive. This is probably emotionally satisfying for Kerry and his supporters, but it gets him nothing. And probably hurts, since it makes him seem negative, caught in the past, and out-of-touch with the concerns of ordinary people. Read all the polls and there is genuine discontent with Bush in this country, but it has nothing to do with what he did or didn’t do in Vietnam. Amazingly, Kerry is letting Bush, more or less unchallenged, tap into some of that sentiment–with his proposals to address worries about health care, education, and retirement last night–while he shadowboxes with his own obsessions.