Kenneth Baer, former speechwriter for Al Gore, is up on The New Republic Online urging Kerry to sue the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT). He makes an excellent point when he states,

That is why if Bush should lose this November, there won't be any honeymoon for Kerry His first few months in office will look like the last years of the Clinton presidency: congressional inquiries, constant talk radio trash-talking, and book deals for anyone with a charge to make. Simply, Kerry can't afford to let the SBVT charges go unanswered if he wants to govern effectively.

That is so true. If Kerry is fortunate enough to withstand the Bush/Cheney/Rove scum attack and win in November, he won't be allowed time to catch his breath before he will be forced to fend off more attacks from the lunatic right.

I don't believe the way in which Republicans mistreated and hated Clinton was so much due to specifically to their hatred towards the Clintons themselves as much as it was a fundamental change in the Republican Party itself. Gingrich, DeLay, and the rest of that regime introduced a new kind of power-hungry, win-at-all-cost type of Republican where moderation was regarded as a sign of weakness. Until a thorough overhauling of the party occurs, the GOP will continue to be a despicable group.

They will work night & day to make a Kerry presidency a living hell -- perhaps even more so than they did to Clinton. As I've mentioned before, it's easy to imagine them doing everything in their power to have the Iraq situation erode and get much worse on Kerry's watch, therefore helping to clear Bush/Cheney from blame and have the public simply persecute Kerry for the sins of the prior administration.

For these reasons and many more, Kerry may understand that being president for the next four years will require as much courage, determination, and sheer willpower as that which he displayed while serving in Vietnam.