Real Leadership

From John Kerry's speech yesterday:

* The question for this campaign, and for the American people, is whether George Bush has handled Iraq in a way that has made us stronger or weaker, safer or less secure.

* George Bush took us to war, and as Commander-in-Chief he is solely responsible for where we are today.

* George Bush tells us that if he had it all to do again, he would do it the same way. Think about what he's saying. He still would have rushed to war without letting the weapons inspectors finish their work. He would have still sent our troops into battle without enough body armor. He would have rushed our country into war without any notion of how to win the peace. He would have still set the conditions for what happened at Abu Ghraib.

* Not only is this incompetent and arrogant, it's dangerous and serves as a clear warning for what George Bush may do in the future.

* The President is not being honest with the American people or about what's going on in Iraq. And our Commander-in-Chief is not being honest with our troops. The administration's own official intelligence estimate paints a grim picture for what may happen in Iraq. Yet the President continues to look at what's happening in Iraq through rose colored glasses.

* Some of the Republican Party's most experienced senators on national security issues - Senators McCain, Hagel and Lugar - have come out and told the American people that things are not going well in Iraq. Yet the President continues his same happy talk without acknowledging the truth.

* Real leadership means being able to change course in order to avoid failure and best protect the American people. Yet, Bush stubbornly clings to a failed course.

This morning, in response to Kerry's speech, George Bush lied: "My opponent says we would be better off with Saddam Hussein in power." No Mr. President - that is a lie and we are not going to let you get away with it.