This is a damned important distinction:
MR. RUSSERT: But you yourself believed that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction.
DR. DEAN: I did, because the president told us. And I’m inclined to believe presidents in most circumstances. I think most Americans, Democrats or Republicans, ought to believe the president of the United States when he does something as serious as send us to war.
Whatever your position on the war and the justification behind pursuing such, this very point is another leading indicator in the unraveling of public trust in the presidency by the left. Those in the 45% approving of the Bush administration’s actions may not be so affected, but those on the other side have been pushed one more inch. Because in their hearts and minds, it’s not as safe today as it was yesterday to trust the words of our leader.
This, in my view, will be Kerry’s biggest hurdle. How do you tell a populace that you’re the guy to follow when every prior leader in the past 25 years has been, in some fashion or another, an accomplice in the degradation of The American Presidency, one right after another?