Building a Strong and Respected United States

Today, Senator John Kerry gave his Democratic Party presidential candidate inauguration speech at the Democratic Party convention, and as President Bush also started campaigning, the 95-day presidential election race has started.

On the night of July 29, Kerry gave his speech at the Fleet Center situated in downtown Boston. While it occurred on the last night of the Democratic Party convention, Kerry openly criticized the current Bush administration and promised to rebuild a strong and revered U.S. if he were elected president.

Kerry’s speech lasted approximately 45 minutes, and an estimated 25 million watched his televised speech.

Kerry also emphasized the fact that the U.S. is currently at war with terror and tried to raise an image as a strong military leader during his speech.

Kerry also spoke about the unilateral decision of the Bush administration to start the war in Iraq, “If I were to become president, I would not start a war. Only if the circumstances deemed it inevitable would I resort to military force, which has been a long part of U.S. military tradition.” However, he also stated, “I will not be withheld from resorting to military force when necessary, and I will not leave our nation’s security and interests in the hands of another nation or any international organizations.”

Presidential candidate John Kerry and his running mate, John Edwards, will start a marathon campaign, scheduled to tour 20 states starting July 30.

President Bush, who has returned to Washington to rest, has refrained from campaigning during the Democratic Party conventions. President Bush plans to start campaigning in Missouri, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania starting on July 30.

Soon-Taek Kwon maypole@donga.com