I agree with Eric Alterman. John Kerry is doing a poor job in explaining his position on the war in Iraq. Here's what Eric says Kerry should be telling us:

• 1. President Bush misled the country and the Congress into war and has conducted it incompetently.
• 2. The war also turns out to have been a dangerous diversion in the war against terrorism.
• 3. Even though we were misled, and even though we would be better off working with our (former?) allies to conduct a truly effective global war against terrorism, in Afghanistan and at home, we have no choice but to try to clean up this mess we’ve created.
• 4. But we should try and do so as quickly, inexpensively and painlessly as possible, so we can begin to repair some of the damage that’s been done to our nation’s reputation and get on with the business of defending the nation with the help and cooperation of our allies, as well as freeing up the resources we need to protect our homeland.

Kerry's recent pronouncements sound like an endorsement of Bush's policy and an after-the-fact justification for his earlier vote in favor of going to war. He's falling into a Bush trap by trying at all costs not to appear that he's "flip-flopped." In doing so, he's not making sense, which is far worse than acknowledging an honest change of heart based upon previous misinformation supplied by the Bush administration.

Kerry staffers, are you listening?