This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2004, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Trying to reassure a frightened, troubled friend that you can make everything all right can be received in one of two ways: You are just what the doctor ordered, or you need to have your head examined.
The folks running this week's Democratic National Convention hope that the American electorate is receiving them and their presidential nominee, Sen. John Kerry, as the former - thoughtful but resolute, considerate but motivated.
Those planning for next month's Republican National Convention are already doing what they can to portray their rivals as the latter - clueless Pollyannas who don't understand just how dangerous the world is and would put everything at risk by changing commanders in the midst of battle.
Sen. John Edwards, the Democrats' vice presidential nominee, found a good phrase to make his party's point Wednesday when he said, repeatedly, “Hope is on the way.” The slogan is meant to suggest that Democrats know there are problems, and that they offer solutions that not only will work but will make people feel better about themselves and their country.
It is also a riff on a common Democratic theme previously used by President Bill “I still believe in a place called Hope” Clinton and the Rev. Jesse “Keep hope alive!” Jackson.
Edwards, whose own quest for the presidency was based on a more populist, and domestically focused, message, will doubtless continue his role as campaign morale officer. It will fall to the more world-weary Kerry - whose Thursday convention speech came after this page's deadline - to convince voters that he has not only the brains but the resolve to lead the nation, and the world, in a time of shadowy danger.
The hope that Democratic candidates are clinging to is that the Republicans, in an effort to portray themselves as the kind of leaders needed to protect us in a nasty world, will come across as pretty nasty themselves.
Thus the picture the Democrats sought to paint of themselves this week, with optimistic messages from the candidates' wives, from Clinton and the Mrs. and from the party's new rising star, the only-in-America story named Barack Obama. They were unfailingly, almost pathologically, optimistic about how bright the future of America would be if only they were to win this year's election over He Who Must Not Be Named.
Also not named were the many so-called wedge issues, concerns that motivate some true believers to become Democratic delegates but, it is feared, discourage a great many more average Americans from voting Democratic in the fall. Those issues include abortion, gay marriage, gun control, even crime. The Republicans, fairly, will make much of that silence.
John Kerry's job now is to run a campaign that strikes the perfect balance between awareness of the dangers we face and promotion of the dreams we cling to. It's a tall order.