The Democratic convention is over, and I wasn’t one of the bloggers invited to Boston to observe. Hrrrumph!! Well, maybe that’s a good thing. Although I’m generally more sympathetic to the Dems than to the Grand Olde Party, I don’t really want to be a partisan Democrat (or a partisan anything). I’d like to think that I’m an independent, albeit a somewhat liberal leaning independent. Ultimately I’m a party of one, looking for what’s right and what really works (or as close an approximation as possible).

Back to the Dems, I’ve been rather pessimistic thus far about John Kerry and his chances to beat George W. Bush this November. But now I’m back to the 50-50 point. The Edwards nomination certainly gave his campaign a shot of energy, and Mrs. Heinz Kerry’s feistiness might actually be a positive with women voters. As to Kerry himself, I just haven’t been very impressed with the image he’s put forth thus far. His resume is certainly outstanding; he’s probably more-than-qualified for the job (or at least is more qualified than George Bush is, even with four years experience). But since the coming of universal TV in the 50’s, image is the big thing. And up to now, the images of John Kerry that I’ve seen on TV haven’t looked too good. Mostly I’ve seen him speaking amidst crowds with a portable mike in his hand, sleeves rolled up, pacing back and forth, struggling to get a point across. He comes across in that context as being gawky and unsure of himself, someone who probably would be an arch “flip-flopper”.

But when he was up at the convention podium on Thursday night, standing tall in his black suit, it was a whole different matter. He started off with a smile, which seemed kind of forced. Then he got serious and I couldn’t help but think, now there’s a statesman. Memories of John F. Kennedy started coming back. Wow, imagine that, a President who actually looked like a real President.

So to you big-shot Democrats out there, if you’re listening (which you probably aren’t), here’s my advice: let Kerry be Kerry. Don’t force him to smile, don’t try to make him seem homey and down to earth. That’s not what this country needs right now. Emphasize the gravitas. Mrs. Kerry and Mr. Edwards will add all the color that is needed to get people’s attention. Keep John Kerry away from picnic tables and watermelon fests. Let him stand tall in a business suit, let him be serious. That’s what he does well, and I honestly believe that’s what the people of America ultimately want in a President.

In my opinion, we haven’t had a real President in a long time. FDR, Truman, Eisenhower and JFK were real Presidents. They had their human faults, but they looked and acted the part of “Leader of the Free World”. LBJ started out good, but got mangled on the Vietnam thing. The guy had plenty of foresight regarding domestic issues (the civil rights laws and anti-poverty measures passed under him), but he got stuck by treating the Vietnam situation as a battleground against world Communism. Then came Nixon, and what a mess that turned out to be. Gerry Ford might have been OK given more time; he looked like a bumbling fool, but he knew the way things worked in DC and the rest of the world. Jimmy Carter, unfortunately, did not. Carter was certainly the greatest humanist of them all, but he faced the worst four years that any President had seen since Lincoln, and he just didn’t have the leadership talents to rise to the challenge. Then came Ron Reagan, who lucked out; during his watch, the American economy fired up again while the Soviet economy petered out. All Ron had to do was to act out the part, and he definitely knew how to do that. Papa Bush wasn’t so bad; he looked good during the Kuwait invasion, but just couldn’t keep the leadership thing going thereafter. So we got Bill Clinton, who a lot of people still like. But Clinton turned out to be an even better image man than Ronnie was. He was the ultimate political pragmatist, excellent at buying time, day by day, but without any long-term vision (although he made you think he had one). So he was followed by GWB, a guy with plenty of long-term vision; but do we really want to go there? Religiosity, unilateral military interventions, budget deficits, dismantling social infrastructure, free reigns for the rich, pollution, unfilled promises on education? And plenty of smirks and smugness in his speeches?

I know that Kerry can’t espouse a Bolshevik agenda; I know that America won’t buy a plan that restricts its sacred SUVs and McMansions and automatic weapons and tax cuts. But there are a whole lot of families out there whose “boats” did not rise very much during the prosperity of the 90’s. If Kerry could somehow convince them that a reasonable mix of public and private initiative over time could open the doors of opportunity once more for their children, then maybe we might see a statesman President again. But for now, the Democrats need to let Kerry act like a statesman, which he does pretty well on his own.