Moving at the Speed of Creativity by Wesley Fryer

Kerryoniraq.com, Digital Storytelling on the political scene

Commentary on this Republican sponsored website from both a political perspective and an educational / digital storyteller standpoint.

If you have not taken about 10 minutes to watch the Republican “documentary” on Kerry and his positions / voting record / media statements concerning the most recent and 1991 wars in Iraq, you should (see www.kerryoniraq.com). We have heard a fair amount of hoopla about Michael Moore and Fahrenheit 9/11 (which I still have not seen but plan to at some point, maybe on DVD) but the ability to use media effectively to convey a point works for both sides. (Both to inform and propagandize.) The need for citizens to have savvy critical thinking skills and media literacy has never been higher than it is today.

Certainly the way the authors of this short video about Kerry use a calendar to zoom in and out on dates to establish the perspective of a timeline is well done. Whether you agree or not with the position advanced by the video, that design point / observation should be conceded.

I personally wish we had better choices in this Presidential race. I have major problems with President Bush’s educational policy, and I think we should have established a much more defined course of action in Iraq with regard to specific objectives and our timeline for involvement. We appear to be engaged in an open-ended enterprise with no disengagement strategy for our military forces articulated or explained. The amount of force used to “make the peace” in Iraq was initially less than what President Bush was counseled to use by his own top military advisors. Both this lack of adequate force and the failure to establish and articulate defined objectives seem to be clear failures to meet the Powell Doctrine of his own Secretary of State, which I agree with and endorse. Our military forces are spread out across the globe, and our Guard and Reserve forces are being called on to bear an increasing load. Obviously our commitment to deploy our military forces abroad will not end– but I think we need to be doing a better job establishing our objectives and ensuring that we have the force structure to achieve those objectives (as well as the political will to do so.)

Generally speaking, I question if we presently have an adequate military force structure (esp active duty) to effectively achieve all the global objectives set before the military by our civilian leaders.

Yet wish as I might, we do not have any other viable candidates in this Presidential race except for President Bush and Senator Kerry. So we must choose. Voting today, I would have to choose Bush (again as I did in 2000) despite the issues I mentioned above and other reservations. Speaking broadly and not just as an individual, I think it will be difficult for Kerry to defeat Bush because we ARE in a war presently, Americans in general have a great deal more confidence in President Bush as our Commander in Chief than hypothetically they would in Kerry, and the economy is continuing to grow. The election result may be close, but at this point I don’t think Bush can lose. (Even if more people do go and see Fahrenheit 9/11).

Whether your political mind is made up or not for the election this November, the video on www.kerryoniraq.com is worth a watch.

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2 responses to “Kerryoniraq.com, Digital Storytelling on the political scene”

  1. PJID Avatar
    PJID

    I have major problems with President Bush’s educational policy.
    But it was Kerry’s too. He wrote some of it. Voted in favor of it. And called in groundbreaking. Even during the campaign he didn’t propose majorly altering the program. And frankly, NCLB is much better than Kerry’s original 1999 education bill which would have allowd states to shut down or withhold funds from any school that wasn’t performing after 3 years.

  2. Wesley Fryer Avatar

    I agree. We didn’t have good choices in the last Presidential election when it came to education policy, and many other issues. Hopefully we’ll have better choices next time.