George H.W. Kerry

As President Bush and Senator Kerry went after each other last night, the Democrat suddenly committed what, we predict, will come to be seen as a fatal, almost Freudian error. It reminded us of the famous scene in the “Star Wars” movie trilogy in which the villain Darth Vader, locked in a ferocious battle with hero Luke Skywalker, utters the line, “Luke, I am your father.”This came when Mr. Kerry draped himself in the mantle of Mr. Bush’s father, George H.W. Bush. It began early in the debate, when the senator listed, as one of the military men who had endorsed him, General Merrill “Tony McPeak, who ran the Air Force war so effectively for his father.” Despite the syntax problem (the debate listeners were left wondering who General McPeak’s father was), President Bush no doubt caught the reference instantly. And then Mr. Kerry went there again.“It wasn’t until former Secretary of State Jim Baker and General Scowcroft and others pushed publicly and said you’ve got to go to the U.N., that the president finally changed his mind – his campaign has a word for that – and went to the United Nations,” Mr. Kerry said approvingly. He came back to the theme: “You know, the president’s father did not go into Iraq, into Baghdad, beyond Basra. And the reason he didn’t is, he said – he wrote in his book – because there was no viable exit strategy. And he said our troops would be occupiers in a bitterly hostile land.”There will no doubt be plenty of speculation about what Mr. Kerry intended by donning the mantle of Mr. Bush’s father. Maybe he was trying subtly to depict the current president as a child of privilege. Or to rattle his rival in some kind of psychological way. Maybe Mr. Kerry was trying to shed his own reputation as an untested anti-war radical by associating himself with the foreign policy veterans like Messrs. Baker and Scowcroft, not to mention the 41st president. Or he was trying to immunize himself against attack by the current president by somehow daring the president to challenge his own father.By our lights, it is a strategy that can only boomerang on the senator. The very Mr. Baker that Mr. Kerry is piously evoking as the defender of the United Nations is being vilified in Democratic attack ads as a stooge of the Saudis. Mr. Baker is widely unpopular in the American Jewish community for trying to bully Israel into dealing with terrorists. The president’s father had splendid alliances in the first Gulf War, with a lot of dictators and Europeans. But he lost the election in 1992, in part precisely because he left Saddam Hussein in power and failed to make clear that America stood strong around the world for freedom.In the “Star Wars” trilogy, Luke Skywalker fought on to victory against his father. Mr. Bush has long since made clear with his tax cuts – as opposed to his father’s tax increases – that he is his own man. Last night, he underscored the point on foreign policy, too. No doubt many Americans, ourselves among them, find the policies of the son more appealing than those of the father. And the president did it again in his closing statement, where sketched yet again the optimistic vision he articulated so beautifully at the convention in New York. If Mr. Kerry wants to run as a George H.W. Bush Democrat, he may win the vote in Kennebunkport and Connecticut. But President Bush described that view best last night when he called it “a pre-September 10th mentality, the hope that somehow resolutions and failed inspections would make this world a more peaceful place.” The thing to remember is that Luke Skywalker triumphed in the end.

George H.W. Kerry

George H.W. Kerry

More from the New York Sun

Unbeknownst to Zelensky, Trump Announces Ceasefire Between Russia and Ukraine on Energy Infrastructure

Bessent Berates Warren in Caustic Letter, Accuses Top Democrat and Staff of Financial Illiteracy

Beats Changes Its Tune

Saudi Arabia Weighs Options After 12 Civilians Killed, 309 Travelers Injured in Houthi Attack on Riyadh Airport

New ‘Carrie’ Raises the Question: When Every Villain Gets a Backstory, What Becomes of Evil?

The Gridiron Crusader: How Mike Ditka Transformed Chicago Football and American Politics

Democrats Gain Ground as Voter Discontent Deepens Ahead of Midterms

Populism, Ascendant Globally, Looks Poised for a Setback in America on November 3

More from the New York Sun

Unbeknownst to Zelensky, Trump Announces Ceasefire Between Russia and Ukraine on Energy Infrastructure

Bessent Berates Warren in Caustic Letter, Accuses Top Democrat and Staff of Financial Illiteracy

Beats Changes Its Tune

Saudi Arabia Weighs Options After 12 Civilians Killed, 309 Travelers Injured in Houthi Attack on Riyadh Airport

New ‘Carrie’ Raises the Question: When Every Villain Gets a Backstory, What Becomes of Evil?

The Gridiron Crusader: How Mike Ditka Transformed Chicago Football and American Politics

Democrats Gain Ground as Voter Discontent Deepens Ahead of Midterms

Populism, Ascendant Globally, Looks Poised for a Setback in America on November 3