The US press said Bush address "had nothing new"

WASHINGTON, September 3 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – US President George W. Bush's long speech, in which he declared acceptance of the Republican Party nomination for reelection, was more of a rhetoric, with no details on his domestic or foreign policies, but rather failed to tackle the mistakes he has made over the past four years in office, leaving many questions unanswered, according to leading US dailies Friday, September 3.

"There was nothing in the speech... that suggested a new era of frankness from the White House, or hope that any of those fundamental problems would be approached with anything but the 'my way or the highway' attitude Mr. Bush has used on issues like tax cuts and Iraq," said Todd S. Purdum of The New York Times.

The Washington Post weighed in saying the incumbent Republican presidential racer failed to address his failures that marred his first term in office.

"The chief difficulty with Mr. Bush's speech wasn't so much what he put in, but what he left out: the missteps and difficulties that have marred his first term and will make many of the goals he cited difficult to obtain."

Bush, according to the post, had also failed to draw the admiration of the American moderate voters who feel that things have been going in the wrong direction over the last four years, or convince them that he has the capacity to learn from mistakes and do better.

The US dailies described Bush as a sort of politician who prefers to talk rhetorically about the plans and his policies, while failing to make such plans come true.

"Bush is a politician who prefers the bold stroke over the workaday plan, and his speech wrapping up the Republican National Convention was a model of inspiring rhetoric, well-turned phrases and big themes, from planting the seeds of democracy in one of the most troubled regions of the world to remaking some of the largest areas of domestic government to meet the realities of family life in 21st-century America," according to the Post.

Many of the American voters were also suspicious about Bush's willingness to face aggressively to any terrorist threats.

the Republican Party's Convention took off Monday, August 30, in New York , a traditional Democrats' stronghold.

Kerry Fires Back

"Misleading our nation into war makes you unfit to lead this nation," Kerry said, referring to Bush (AFP)

The Democratic candidate for the November elections John Kerry, for his part, called President Bush "unfit to lead this nation," less than an hour after the Republican incumbent promised Americans a victory over terrorism and a strong economy.

"Misleading our nation into war makes you unfit to lead this nation," he said. "Letting 45 million Americans go without health care makes you unfit to lead this nation. I believe it's time to set a new course for America ," Agence France Presse (AFP) quoted Kerry as saying in Ohio .

Kerry further lashed out at vice-president Dick Cheney, who had earlier launched a scathing attack on the Democrat, saying the vice-president refused to serve his military service in Vietnam .

"Here's my answer," the Massachusetts senator said. "I'm not going to have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have and by those who have misled the nation into Iraq ."

Last month, Kerry accused Bush of playing the “politics of fear and smear” in response to a Bush’s ad accusing Kerry as having ties to "special interests, a reference to powerful Washington lobbyists."