BEIJING, Sept.6 (Xinhuanet) -- The four-day Republican convention marshaled its forces to laud the incumbent U.S. President George W. Bush's image as a strong leader in difficult times.

    The main topic of the Republicans was intended to focus on Bush's leadership in the war on terrorism. It seems that Bush's team has developed a strategy of fully exploiting the trump card of "anti-terrorism", as different polls showed that American voters tended to trust Bush on anti-terrorism and homeland security, but on the economy and major domestic issues, they opted to support Kerry. Many Republican politicians - including Sen. John McCain and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani - praised Bush for his unceasing efforts in fighting terrorism and defended the war on Iraq despite the mass protests outside the convention.

    Many analysts say Bush was right in his assertion that the United States could not win the war on terrorism.

    Bush sprinkled the word "win" six times through a 25-minute speech he gave Tuesday at an American Legion convention, where he promised victory in the war on terrorism.

    Bush and his rival Sen. John Kerry are afraid to completely level with the American people about the war on terrorism. Anything less than a promise of a smashing victory is attacked as irresolute. Both parties are eager to exploit any hint of weakness on national security.

    Bush grasped the golden time at a time when the terrorism is still rampant around the world, in a week when terrorists seized a school and 400 hostages, mostly children, in southern Russia, bombed two buses and killed 16 people in Israel, beheaded one Nepalese hostage and shot 11 others in Iraq.

    Bush and Kerry battled over the economy and jobs in a small corner of the campaign's most fiercely contested state of Ohio on Saturday.

    Bush said, "the economy is strong and getting stronger," and accused his Democratic rival of proposing tax increases that would crimp the economy.

    Bush was accused by the democrats that his tax cuts have fostered a wildly burgeoning deficit that he steadfastly refuses to address for fear of repeating the nightmare of his father's rescinding of his principal promise.

    Kerry said he would roll back tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans earning more than US$200,000 a year, but will cut taxes further for the middle class.

    Bush seized on new employment figures showing 144,000 new jobs were added to payrolls as evidence of an improving economy. Kerry questioned Bush's claims that the economy was improving, saying a weak jobs market showed the president was out of touch with average families. Kerry's campaign noted that the dip in the unemployment rate occurred because 152,000 people dropped out of the labor force, which merely confirmed that the president's term would probably end with a net loss of jobs, the first since the Great Depression.

    The 144,000 new jobs added in August, brought the total in the past 12 months to 1.7 million. But there are still 913,000 fewer workers on payrolls than when Bush took office.

    Reforming the welfare state to meet modern economic and demographic realities is the most pressing domestic challenge facing the country. Kerry also criticized Bush for the 17 percent increase in Medicare premiums that beneficiaries will confront next year, an US$11.60 jump per month and the largest in the history of the program. Kerry said Bush had not done enough to control the cost of health care.

    The leading actor of another episode in August that caught much public attention was a group of pro-Bush veterans, "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth", who ran advertisement on television questioning Kerry's Vietnam War record and accusing him of lying to get his war medals.

    Kerry's war experience was one of his major advantages over Bush and one of the major themes of the Democratic convention was to publicize Kerry's war experience to demonstrate his leadership in the war on terror. The boat veterans' advertisements caused severe damage to Kerry's campaign, resulting in a shift in public opinion.

    Party conventions and conferences always serve a dual purpose of pleasing the delegates while trying to woo the wider electorate. At the grass roots, the Republicans move ever more confidently to the right, burnishing its Christian conservatism and its isolationism as it goes. This was made absolutely clear in the party program adopted, with its firm commitments against legalized abortion and gay marriage to the delight of the delegates.

    George Bush may be riding a small swing in the polls. A Newsweek survey gave the president a lead of 52-41 over Kerry, with independent Ralph Nader at 3 percent. A Time Magazine poll, released a day earlier, also made it an 11-point race.

    Of Bush voters, 86 percent support the president strongly; only 76 percent of Kerry voters support him strongly. Among voters who reported "leaning toward" Bush, 56 percent said they were enthusiastic about him. Among Kerry "leaners" only 40 percent were enthusiastic about Kerry the candidate, meaning their "lean" in Kerry's direction is possibly based solely on doubts about Bush, according to a recent survey. Enditem
 

    (David Lee--Shenzhen Daily)