To me, there are many reasons to unseat President Bush, more than I can write about in one article. However, John Kerry’s complex career and unimpressive campaign hasn’t convinced some prospective voters that he will be any better than Bush, so I’m going to try to convince you that he can ONLY be better.

For starters, longtime environmentalist Robert Kennedy Jr. says Bush has the worst environmental record in presidential history. He has weakened many environmental laws and supported weak policies. Unlike Bush, Kerry would strengthen, not weaken our Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. Unlike Bush, Kerry would enforce, not relax regulations on polluters (ex. Bush is weak on the reduction of mercury pollution from coal-burning power plants). Unlike Bush, Kerry is for a Patriot Act that has stricter judicial oversight and more accountability to Americans. And also unlike Bush, Kerry would make sure Roe v. Wade isn’t weakened or overturned, nor would he constitutionally ban gay marriage.

Still on the fence? Let me tell you, this election is bigger than Bush vs. Kerry. In my opinion, there has never been an election where people should be as concerned about who their VP (Cheney), Attorney General (Ashcroft), National Security Advisor (Condi Rice) will be as who their President will be for the next four years. When put in this light, the Kerry/Edwards ticket looks much better, to me anyway. Maybe people who are still somewhat comfortable with Bush wouldn’t be if they realized the following: that in spite of outgoing President Clinton’s warnings about Osama’s threat, how lackadaisical the Bush administration was about Al Qaeda before 9/11 (especially John Ashcroft and Condi Rice); how Bush opposed the 9/11 Commission originally; how poor a job the administration did in planning the Iraq war, flip-flopping their reasons for it, and handling its aftermath; and how the administration’s poor leadership has resulted in an unusual amount of White House officials resigning (Richard Clarke, Paul O’Neill, Larry Lindsey, 9/11 victim John O’Neil, CIA director George Tenet, etc.). Talk about incompetence and misplace priorities, Condi Rice (NSA) never mentioned Osama once before 9/11 (according to a Lexis Nexis search) and that her prepared speech the day before the attacks never mentioned terrorism. Besides, how can people who don’t trust Kerry (the war veteran) on foreign policy and national security possibly trust Bush, (who was against Homeland Security and nation-building before he was for it) and the other chickenhawks in his cabinet to carefully plan out another war when they did not do it in Iraq? There are over 190 UN members. Surely would-be President Kerry can use his diplomatic skills not only to reduce the level of hatred and resentment of America foreigners have had under Bush, but to get more support from them for Iraq and future wars than Bush ever could. To close, I know Kerry isn’t our dream President, but we can’t chance continuing the nightmare that is the Bush presidency

By Charles DohertyEmail: [email protected]