He's on the right side of just about every issue that matters. He's suitably liberal, but not enthusiastic enough to risk losing his dignity. He's silver-tongued, silver-haired and loaded with cash. He's presidential hopeful John Kerry, and he's is our most viable hope of ending the authority of the Bush administration.But time and again, Kerry's critics have faulted him for his inconsistency. Over and over again, his antiwar statement has been tainted by the fact that he voted to send troops into Iraq, and his pro-gay rights stance damaged by his opposition to same-sex marriage. He seems to have the right answer for everyone. But does he?

What if, in our nation's current state of uncertainty, the power of mass appeal proves less forceful than narrow-minded but straightforward honesty? Disillusioned and insecure, will America ultimately bring to the polls more trust for an obtuse but consistent cowboy than an ambiguous politician?

I was struck by this thought after being personally disillusioned by Kerry's campus tour. After some breathtaking e-mails promising the chance of a lifetime to interview Kerry in a telephone conference call last week, I was all set to grill Kerry on a few policy issues. I was prepared to come away from the experience contented with the future of this country, and able to tell everybody that I talked to America's future president.

As it happened, there were 150 schools participating in the 15-minute call. He arrived 20 minutes late and took five predictable and unoriginal questions. His answers were hurried and typical of what we've seen so far of his campaign.

This is yet another example of Kerry following all of the political rules, but doing so unpersuasively. Pressumedly very conscious of the success that Dean had in visiting colleges, Kerry followed suit and rallied the students. As he so nicely said the day of the interview, "That's why I'm doing a campus tour now, and starting to talk to people on the campuses, because you know, young people have this enormous power."

That may well be true, but the small fraction of his campus tour that I saw was half-hearted and unconvincing. And this lackadaisical response has left me with plenty of unanswered questions.

A huge part of Kerry's campaign is the central issue of improving the economy. One change he says he will implement is to lower the corporate tax, which will encourage companies who currently outsource jobs to other countries to keep the profits at home. However, the corporate tax is infamous for being difficult to control, and an incredibly small percentage of companies actually pay it. I wonder how he plans to tackle that issue.

Also, Kerry keeps saying that he will lower oil prices, by putting pressure on oil-exporting countries to increase output. Given our less-than-friendly relations with the Middle East, many have wondered how exactly he plans to do that.

This column was supposed to include his stirring answers to these questions, but I suppose his busy schedule means that we'll just have to leave them hanging.

Kerry has a lot going for him-he has a broad base on issues, a moderate image and a sense of electability. He is regarded as "solid" by environmentalists, he's Catholic but in favor of abortion rights and he encourages more action to improve health care. He has strong Yankee connections and an interesting immigrant background. As BBC correspondent Paul Reynolds said, "a lot of folk in Massachusetts probably think he's Irish anyway." Actually, his roots are Jewish-the name Kerry was what his family adopted after changing it from Kohn a century or so ago.

All predictions say the race will be tight. I just hope, for the sake of ousting Bush, that Kerry can make his opinions a bit more convincing.