Book Review : John Kerry

by Carmen Nge


If the books on Bush have been largely weighty tomes, then John Kerry’s A Call to Service: My vision for a better America, is a highly accessible, compact and modest volume advancing his beliefs and policy goals. Unlike George W., who has had many books written about him but none self-authored, John Kerry proves that there is intellectual meat to the aristocratic aura.

It is perhaps apt that Kerry should preface his book with reference to Vietnam, a war for which he is most known (and outspoken) for his views against it. But as always, he is able to use his personal experiences, to use the lessons from Vietnam, to serve as a building block for his policy interests and to use them to describe exactly how they have shaped him and his values. Written with surprising candor and occasional glimpses of good humor, Kerry carefully constructs personal anecdotes to support his vision and argument for his ideas.

Each chapter opens with Kerry’s call for change in a particular sector of American society—education, health-care, economy, etc. He begins by outlining exactly why the sector has been failing, listing the problems and challenges each sector faces. This is then followed by a relevant story or anecdote, in italics, that fleshes out the issue in more specific depth and becomes a reflection point for Kerry. The bulk of each chapter (sometimes punctuated with more anecdotal accounts) is then devoted to a meticulously outlined series of action plans to solve the problems discussed.

While his ideas about American foreign policy are alarmingly general, capitulating to a kind of liberal progressive politics about freedom, democracy and free trade (most glaring example: expanding tariff-free trade policies to the Middle East on condition that they drop their economic boycott of Israel) that veers dangerously close to neo-imperialist designs, his ideas on the domestic front are clear-cut, plainly articulated and shows a tangible vision for change.

Using statistics and facts to back up his criticisms of the current administration’s failure on the domestic front—this too was his strategy during the recent presidential debates—Kerry’s action plan is carefully designed as a direct and immediate response to the existing problems plaguing the nation: “sluggish economy, rising crime, the largest budget deficits in history.” His proposals: increase the minimum wage; cultivate energy independence from foreign and environmentally damaging energy sources; cut corporate welfare; reverse tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans; spend more on public schools, etc.

The cornerstone of Kerry’s vision rests on a simple philosophy: “I believe what America needs is a president determined to restore our sense of common national purpose,” he writes—very much in the vein of John F. Kennedy’s “ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.” However, this is not blatant, unthinking patriotism on the defensive—pretty much Bush’s rhetoric of the past 3 years—but a kind of revived nationalistic fervor, a call for change that taps into existing American patriotic sentiments and simultaneously invests them with a goal with which to channel that patriotic energy. In short, John Kerry knows that the American people can be asked to do more than just “shop”.

Kerry declares early on in his book: “You don’t have any business running for the presidency if you don’t know and can’t explain exactly how you would do a better job.” In A Call to Service, John Kerry does not only keep to his word but he does so without mystification and bombast. It is this writer’s hope that the true test of his sincerity will soon commence.
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This review was published as a companion piece to Bush Books, in the November 2004 issue of Options2, The Edge