What Kerry Should Have Said About The President's Mistakes

The last question of the evening was directed to the President, asking him to list three mistakes he had made and what he would do to correct them. Bush said he made some mistakes in appointing people, but did not name them, and did not say he had made any mistakes on matters of policy. Here's what Kerry should have said in response:

Ladies and Gentlemen, the President's answer to this last question sums up everything that has been wrong about this Administration. He has been asked, not by some clever reporter, but by an ordinary citizen like you, what mistakes he might have made in the past three and a half years and what he has done to correct them. He has thrown about some words about people he appointed, but refused to say who they were. And he has refused to specifically name a single thing he has done as President that he might have been done better.

Now I ask you: Do you feel safer in the hands of a leader who is so intransigent, so stubborn, so unwilling to admit that he has ever made a mistake in judgment, that he refuses to see the reality before his face? Does that make you feel safer? For my part, it does not.

In the fight against Terror, we need to stay focused on our ultimate goals and on the values that have made us a great nation. We have to fight with determination. But we also need to be flexible and able to learn from our mistakes, so we can do better, so we can do the job. This President doesn't learn from his mistakes because he doesn't think he has ever made any. Instead he lashes out at anyone who criticizes what he has done. And the rest of the world sees this quality of intransigence in him. Right now, a little less anger, and a little more humility coming from the leader of the Free World might do us a lot of good. Because, as the Good Book says, pride goeth before a fall.