One of the most dramatic segments in John Kerry's speech at the Democratic National Convention seemed at first listening to be a ringing re-affirmation of a traditional American principle.
But listen carefully to how Kerry answered the question of when America ought to go to war and you will discover he wasn't echoing George Washington so much as doing a Clintonesque takeoff on Woodrow Wilson.
Said Kerry: "And as president, I will bring back this nation's time-honored tradition: the United States of America never goes to war because we want to, we only go to war because we have to."
Thus far, he resembled Washington, who studiously kept America out of a conflict between England and France, and who counseled non-intervention and deterrent military strength. But a moment later, Kerry resembled Woodrow Wilson, who converted World War I into an un-winnable crusade "for a universal dominion of right."
While expressing a Wilsonian view, however, Kerry used carefully parsed Clintonian language.
According to the text of his speech posted on his campaign Web site, Kerry said: "Before you go to battle, you have to be able to look a parent in the eye and truthfully say: 'I tried everything possible to avoid sending your son or daughter into harm's way. But we had no choice. We had to protect the American people, fundamental American values from a threat that was real and imminent.' So lesson one, this is the only justification for going to war."
Now look at these 18 words again: "We had to protect the American people, fundamental American values from a threat that was real and imminent."
Is Kerry giving "only" one justification for war, or two?
He appears to be offering Washington's and Wilson's at the same time: He would send your son or daughter to war 1) to protect "the American people" (Washingtonian realism), or 2) to protect "American values" (Wilsonian ideology).
Is this too picky a textual analysis? An alternative interpretation is that on the most significant issue, in his most important speech, Kerry was inadvertently imprecise in his choice of words.
There's undeniable power -- and jeopardy -- in a campaign promise unambiguously stated. President Bush's father coined a classic: "Read my lips: No new taxes." Kerry might have said 18 words that went like this: "Read my lips: No wars unless they are necessary to protect Americans from a real and imminent threat." But he didn't. He said those other 18 words.