EDITOR'S NOTE

This item originally appeared in Arab News on October 15, 2004 and is reprinted here with permission.

Bush is boilerplate. Kerry is prodigiously insincere. What's a voter to do?

Why not vote as we do in Louisiana?

In 1990, Louisiana had a governor's race between Edwin Edwards and David Duke. Edwards was a charismatic Cajun with a reputation for corruption and graft. Duke was a notorious neo-Nazi Klansman.

Vote for the crook? Or the racist?

Choices, choices ..

Edwards won the 1991 governorship with a slogan neither he nor his campaign would have ever "approved." "Vote for the Crook!" urged countless signs and bumper stickers. "It's important."

Having been Louisiana's governor three times before, at least Edwards knew what happened in the job. Which is why a lot of people will cast their vote for Bush. He knows what happens. He's been president 3 1⁄2 years, and things have not been .. horrible. For us. Lucky for Bush, Iraq isn't voting.

But it didn't have to be that way.

Bush was conned by neocons. But listen now to the splashy sounds of neocon rats abandoning Bush and paddling furiously to Kerry. From Paul Bremer's feigned-surprise squeals of "who, me?" when he "secretly" complained Bush failed to send sufficient troops, to columnist Thomas Friedman's howling that Bush's "opposition to energy conservation" funds "terrorism."

Neocons want four more years of destabilization in the Middle East, and they likely won't be getting that from Bush again.

Kerry's ready. In the first debate, he said of Iraq: "I'm going to get it right for those soldiers, because it's important to Israel, it's important to America, it's important to the world, it's important to the fight on terror."

Kerry's Israel comes first, ahead of "America," ahead of "the world." Friedman echoes Kerry's call for a radical Middle East energy policy aimed not at encouraging moderation and stability, but at "stimulat(ing) reform in the Arab-Muslim world."

In his July Democratic Convention speech, Kerry promised "an America that controls its own destiny because it's finally and forever independent of Mideast oil." He wants "an America that relies on its own ingenuity and innovation-not the Saudi royal family." Kerry claims he "will invest in new technologies and alternative fuels and the cars of the future so that no young American in uniform will ever be held hostage to our dependence on oil from the Middle East ."

Late August polls showed that 91 percent of Americans concur. Eighty-three percent agree that "reducing dependence on foreign oil" must be the top priority. Pollster Dr. Frank Luntz observes, "Kerry fired the first campaign attack on U.S. dependence on Saudi Arabian oil -- and it was clearly a hit with the public."

But how realistic is Kerry?

Friedman and Kerry advocate dramatic cuts to industry and re-tooling that could not only slow America's economy, but also start a worldwide depression. Presidencies last only last four to eight years, but Kerry's new "innovation" campaign ad claims under Kerry, America will make itself "independent of Mideast oil in the next 10 years."

That's 10 years too fast.

Before voting for Kerry, look at the facts.  America imports about 62 percent of its total oil demand of 12.2 million barrels a day. Over two-fifths of this comes from OPEC nations. Overall, last year's largest U.S. suppliers were Canada (2.1 million barrels), Saudi Arabia (1.8 million barrels), Mexico (1.6 million barrels), and Venezuela (1.4 barrels).

Kerry wants to take Saudi Arabia out of the equation. Right away. That's like removing a chair leg and then trying to sit.

The Saudi Arabia Kerry so decries is subduing domestic jihadists, has instigated social and political reforms, and continues bolstering a sagging U.S. dollar.

Americans think oil prices are too high now? Wait until they have to pay in euros. Kerry's plan places America at the mercy of much more volatile, unstable oil regimes. Venezuela's "strong man" president, Hugo Chavez, loathes America and keeps oil prices high. At a 2000 OPEC summit, Chavez put otherwise dour Iranian officials into stitches of laughter by mocking American notions of exorbitant oil prices, quoting "barrel" prices for Coca-cola, shampoo, and suntan lotion.

Venezuela's fastest-growing industry is kidnapping. Its airports are so dangerous the U.S. warns travelers "to arrive during daylight hours" only, and to arrange transport only "by someone who is known to them."

Taking a boat? Don't, because there are pirates. And on land, the U.S. warns, "The risk of encountering explosive devices in Venezuela, particularly in Caracas, appears to be increasing."

It's a baby Baghdad, only Catholic.

Kerry's "plan" for energy and the Middle East just won't work. What will work? Sustained high oil prices will eventually reduce oil consumption. Despite many Middle East policy blunders, Bush has maintained America's relations with Saudi Arabia through trying times.

We'd all be happier if oil prices were lower, and Bush's administration has a greater chance of making this a reality. So this election, if you don't like either candidate, do what we do in Louisiana.

Vote for the realist. It's important.   

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