So John Kerry just announced his choice of running mate, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina. Although some may laud the decision as widely popular, it was the wrong choice for the wrong reasons.

By most accounts, Kerry and Edwards are not close, personally or ideologically like Clinton and Gore, for example. Additionally, as I wrote in an earlier post, Edwards neither has executive experience nor foreign policy experience in his resume. As a Senator for only six years after not previously serving in government, questions about his ability to serve as President should Kerry die while in office will certainly come up during the campaign. Suffice to say, although he is certainly charasmatic and Southern, he is not a perfect candidate.

The main attack the Republicans are leveling at Senator Kerry is that he is a flip-flopper (an attack I think unfair, but polling indicates has been somewhat successful). Inherent in this slander is that Kerry, like Clinton (but theoretically unlike George W. Bush), polls extensively and makes decisions based upon momentary public opinion rather than what is truly right. If the Republicans wish to continue this line of attack, they now have another prime example with the Edwards choice as many view it as merely politically expedient, based on polling rather than convictions.

So what could Kerry have done differently? Who should he have chosen instead?

If Kerry had gone out on a limb and chosen someone relatively out of the blue--Chuck Hagel, Joe Biden, Wes Clark, Bill Cohen, Lincoln Chafee, John Glenn--he would have shown strength, and more importantly, conviction. By thinking outside of the box and choosing an elder statesman, of sorts (like Dukakis's choice of Lloyd Bentsen), Kerry would have looked decisive, a charactaristic that would go far in combatting his image as a "waffler."

In all, I think that one of Kerry's greatest weaknesses is the "Wimp Factor," which was most memorably applied to the senior Bush during the 1988 campaign. Although I think this attack is unfair (as it was for Bush 41), Kerry will need to look strong to vault ahead of Bush the Younger in this election. By caving in to the party with his selection of Edwards, he has taken a step backwards in this quest.

It will be interesting to see if Edwards charisma (that didn't impress me much when I saw him front row in March) will be more meaningful in the election than Kerry's seeming lack of convictions. I only hope that my intuition that Kerry is more shrewd politically than I am is well founded.