Senator Kerry’s speech today at Wayne State included much of the rhetoric we have come to expect from him. However, one thing stood out, an ad lib as he talked about restructuring the tax code for companies located overseas. Though copies of his speech handed out before the event don’t contain it, he promised to raise taxes on work done outside the country "as soon as possible." It is the ad lib of "as soon as possible" that strikes me. I don’t know why he would add "as soon as possible" to his speech instead of using the more forceful language we have come to expect. My gut tells me, though, that it is because he recognizes that Congress, not the President, sets the tax code for the country and therefore, after all his grandstanding, he won’t be able to do anything on his own if elected. What it also means is that he was part of the body that set the tax law he is now condemning and, though he has touted every vote or initiative he supported, or thought about supporting, in his 19 years in the Senate, we have not heard from him once about efforts to fix this "problem" when he was in a position to do so.
