kerry is so very, very ...

got to see kerry today at the AFT's national convention.  i saw him once before, and this time was equally underwhelming.  he's just not that inspiring a speaker.  you don't get the sense that that many original thoughts are floating around in there.  he doesn't have the balls to say, like howard dean did when he spoke to the AFT, "i despise vouchers." 
 
but he did have a sort of interesting message going on for a while.  oddly echoing a theme that the earlier conference speaker, azar nafisi (author of reading lolita in tehran) had spoken to, kerry said we need to be asking ourselves "what if?"  "what if?" is the question of idealists.  he gave some examples of some of the "what ifs" we should be asking, but none of them were very good.  so as part of my campaign effort, i'm suggesting some "what ifs" that kerry needs to be asking at every campaign stop (especially when he's talking about education).  For example:
 

What if every child in this country were insured, so that they could get the preventative health and dental care they need to be able to focus in school?

What if no parent had to work multiple low-wage jobs to provide for his or her family, freeing up their evenings to serve as moral and educational role models?

What if schools were socioeconomically integrated because housing was socioeconomically integrated?

What if corporate interests and national priorities were not the same thing?

What if corporate interests and foreign policy were not the same thing?

 
come on kerry.  capture our imaginations. 

and by the way, every time kerry uses the word "optimist" or any variation thereof, i want to hand him a thesaurus.  yes, we all know that voters like a positive candidate and that's why kerry picked edwards.  they don't want some ole downer like dean was.  but does he have to use that word?  is that what he really means?  doesn't he really mean idealist? 
 
and after my daily dose of idealism i always enjoy some cynical humor.