The Wire

With election fever running high in the United States, the majority of media focus on the campaign so far has been upon the experience and the values of John Kerry and George W Bush. Amongst accusations of lying and incompetency, the actual policy differences between the two candidates has somewhat been lost, leaving the world with a better idea of how John Kerry can shoot a rifle than how he will approach world issues. Following the international activities of the Bush Administration during their first term, both parties feel a need to market their leaders as paternalistic protectors of the American people. In the process of doing this, approaches to foreign policy issues, especially from the Democrats, have been overshadowed and are difficult to gain a clear grasp of. Dr. Gil Merom is lecturer in Government and International Relations in the School of Economic and Political Science at Sydney University. He spoke to Bill Birtles about the differences, or lack of them, in approaches to foreign policy issues by John Kerry and George. W. Bush. He says that although the rhetoric may have a sweeter tone if Kerry becomes president, the actual policies won’t change much at all.