Extreme political makeover

John Kerry's house is fine. It's a good house, a house with a tremendous foundation. But it's the view -- his transformational vision for America -- that will sell him to the country.

Clinton was all about sparkling fixtures and interesting decorating flourishes -- remodeling the Democratic Party with triangulation and realpolitik touches. During his presidency, the pragmatic argument had it that, with the country split, there was no appetite for grand visions, just for legislative knick-knacks and policy odds and ends. The cold war had ended, and we could afford to tinker.

But that was then. What the times call for now, and what Kerry must do, is give the Democratic Party -- and American politics in general -- an extreme political makeover.

The good news for Kerry is that since Sept. 11 the country is in a much more sober mood -- looking for a responsible leader who will remind us that we are all in the same boat together. Hope, community, inspiration and real national security -- as opposed to Bush's perpetual anxiety, fear, pessimism and division -- are the features America's voters are in the market for.

In making the media rounds, Clinton seemed to suggest that laying low is a good strategy for Kerry, whom he praised for showing "a certain reticence given the seriousness of the problems in the world today."

But Leader of the Free World is not exactly a stealth position. When you think of the qualities that make for a great president does reticence make your top 100? Your top 1,000? Nor will reticence close the absurd gap in the latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll that has 51 percent of Americans saying that they trust Bush as their commander in chief, compared to 43 percent that say they trust Kerry for the job.

Advising Kerry to focus on upping his curb appeal is badly missing the point, which is that the Democratic Party actually has a candidate with the biography, the intellect, the heart, the chutzpah, and the courage to offer voters a stirring view of where we should be headed as a country.

If he does, I predict he'll be in escrow on the White House by Election Day.

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