New York Times: John Kerry for President

--- Die Old Grey Lady gibt ihre noble neutrale Zurückhaltung in der heißen Phase des US-Wahlkampfs auf und empfiehlt ihren Lesern in einem Editorial, für Kerry zu stimmen: over the last year we have come to know Mr. Kerry as more than just an alternative to the status quo. We like what we've seen. He has qualities that could be the basis for a great chief executive, not just a modest improvement on the incumbent. ... He strikes us, above all, as a man with a strong moral core. ... There is no denying that this race is mainly about Mr. Bush's disastrous tenure. Nearly four years ago, after the Supreme Court awarded him the presidency, Mr. Bush came into office amid popular expectation that he would acknowledge his lack of a mandate by sticking close to the center. Instead, he turned the government over to the radical right. Mr. Bush installed John Ashcroft, a favorite of the far right with a history of insensitivity to civil liberties, as attorney general. He sent the Senate one ideological, activist judicial nominee after another. He moved quickly to implement a far-reaching anti-choice agenda including censorship of government Web sites and a clampdown on embryonic stem cell research. ... Mr. Bush and his attorney general put in place a strategy for a domestic antiterror war that had all the hallmarks of the administration's normal method of doing business: a Nixonian obsession with secrecy, disrespect for civil liberties and inept management. Kerry ist also klar das kleinere Übel, meint die Times. Man muss ihr aus europäischer sicht recht geben, auch wenn es mit einem demokratischen Präsidenten mit dem bequemen Raushalten der EU-Politik aus so manchem Krisenherd schwerer werden dürfte. Aber noch zeigen die Umfragen sowieso ein Patt aus bei der Wahl in zweieinhalb Wochen.