Does this already qualify as piling on?

I don’t fancy myself much of an expert on U.S. politics (whether I’m much of an expert on Canadian politics is a judgment I’ll leave to you). But I understand there may be some sort of campaign going on down there, and I keep getting asked what I think will happen. So in case you’re wondering, I think we’re in for another four years of the same.

I agree with Warren Kinsella: fear works. But there’s an even simpler explanation for why Bush will win: Kerry sucks.

He has no charisma. He has no discernible ideas, ideology, or guiding principles. He’s wishy-washy, to put it generously, on Iraq. And as the Republicans like to point out, he has such a thin record from his lengthy tenure in the Senate that he rarely if ever speaks about it.

Kerry has exactly one thing going for him – his heroism in a war that he wisely came to oppose. And he’s already managed to make Americans so thoroughly sick of hearing about it that it’s no longer much of a positive.

Unless you’re a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat (which, admittedly, I probably would be if I lived south of the border), it’s hard to think of a single good reason to vote for this guy. And his biggest problem is one that’s probably beyond his control, because the one thing you can’t fake is a common touch.

You know how to pick which candidate’s going to win a presidential race? Simple: Which one would you rather have over to your house for a barbeque, a pint or a game of football on the tube?

You’d have to go back to Jimmy Carter beating Gerald Ford to find the exception. Seriously. We’re talking Reagan over Carter and Mondale, Bush over Dukakis, Clinton over Bush and Dole, and Dubya over Gore. It holds up every time.

I hope I’m wrong about this, because whatever else Kerry does he’ll never be able to top Bush’s personal charm. But given all his other negatives, I can’t help but think he’s dead in the water.