Glenn offers an instructive view into a parallel universe.

It's not really an alternate universe, though: just an alternate Kerry. And that's the problem. The Kerry that Glenn envisions is no more real than the Easter Bunny. Imagining Kerry behaving boldly and honestly is interesting, but only as a study in contrast to reality. Glenn's tale isn't one of what-might-be; it isn't even what-could-have-been. It's not imagining what if Lincoln had lived past that night at the theatre --- it's imagining what would have happened if he sprouted wings, tipped his hat to the missus, and flew off to the moon.

Like Glenn, I'd love to see a Democratic candidate genuinely challenge Bush with an alternative vision for the future. But that's not what Kerry wants: he has no such vision, and even if he did, he'd never have the courage to proclaim it for fear of alienating one slice or another of the precarious jumble of interest groups and activists known as the Democratic Party. There is only one line on his résumé which appeals to his entire base: the one right at the top, where it says "John Forbes Kerry", and not "George W. Bush".

So, we got feel-good Vietnam stories instead of a plan for Iraq. (Say the phrase "feel-good Vietnam stories" to yourself a few times and you start to see what a mind-bogglingly, obviously dumb idea that was). And knee-jerk criticisms of Bush policies, regardless of whether or not they might actually make sense even in the context of traditional Democratic priorities.

Bush is no prize. But he's the devil we know, and a devil who, for all his flaws, takes seriously the threat facing our nation and appears to be trying to do something about it. With Bush, I expect I will have four more years to quibble with and argue about his tactics in the conduct of this war. With Kerry, once the campaign was over, I fear I'd have a difficult time convincing him there was a war at all.