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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJust when I think I couldn't possibly manage even MORE respect for John Kerry
Here is is, giving me all the more reason to find even more, in the reserve.
He is magnificent.
mylye2222
(2,992 posts)Goooo JK!!!!!!
He is a national and International treasure.
Siwsan
(26,295 posts)And, yes, he is a treasure.
Pauldg47
(640 posts)Yea to Obama & Kerry !!!!
MBS
(9,688 posts)Kerry has been an outstanding Secretary of State. (And, yes, he would have been an excellent president, too, but, watching him in action, I've come round to the thought that SoS may have been the job he was truly born for. )
So nice to have a president and a secretary of state (oh, let's throw in Sec. Moniz, too) for whom I have the highest respect.
So proud to have these people representing my country.
Pauldg47
(640 posts)seabeyond
(110,159 posts)Potentially in history.
still_one
(92,422 posts)Baitball Blogger
(46,758 posts)the oval office. I am glad that he has this moment in history. More meaningful than anything Bush did.
YvonneCa
(10,117 posts)...Diplomacy. 🇺🇸 That was a foreign concept for GWB.
Very proud of Secretary John Kerry!
MBS
(9,688 posts)shenmue
(38,506 posts)pampango
(24,692 posts)the recent upgrade of Malaysia's human rights ranking or others but, on balance, he has done a fantastic job as Secretary of State promoting peace and diplomatic solutions to global issues.
MattSh
(3,714 posts)and I'll never be able to respect him again.
I still had my Kerry/Edwards magnetic bumper sticker from 2004, but I trashed it last year and I'm damn glad I did.
mylye2222
(2,992 posts)He is the best SoS since decades!
MattSh
(3,714 posts)Two can play that game.
mylye2222
(2,992 posts)The real person acting bad was Victoria Nuland.... not surprised since she is a neocon diguised in a Dem. Not Kerry.
MattSh
(3,714 posts)to clean out that neo-con nest of vipers in the State Department, left over from the Bush era. Neither choose to do so.
MBS
(9,688 posts)They can't just be "cleared out" easily, without cause. I think that Kerry has been doing a good job of working with the people he's inherited.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)I often place responsibility with the adult who initiates children's games.
However, I do realize those same children will petulantly rationalize their actions as something other than resentful bitterness.
Siwsan
(26,295 posts)and aren't just being a contrarian.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)and "Putin" and you'll quickly see where loyalties lie.
mylye2222
(2,992 posts)LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)He efficiently conducted Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, helped negotiate a power sharing deal in Afghanistan after the disputed 2014 Presidential election, helped negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran, and was instrumental in eliminating Syria's chemical weapons (and avert a possible U.S.-led military strike).
Now this.
Pretty good CV to date.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,199 posts)Boy did we screw the pooch back then.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)Proud to be a Kerrytraveler.
MBS
(9,688 posts)Funny thing is that I never met Kerry. While volunteering at our Franklin County field office in Columbus I was detailed once to staff a local Kerry appearance. But the Secret Service kept us upstairs with the press, so I only saw the back of his head through a tiny window in the door as he passed by.
His staff and interns gave me a tour of his Senate office after the election. But I felt like an intruder because he wasn't there. While in D.C. I stayed with one of his top subcommittee aides. I was just happy to be around the good people who worked for and supported him.
MBS
(9,688 posts)You deserved it!
I worked hard, too (not as hard as you, though), but my most substantive contributions were early in the campaign, in the primaries, before the Iowa caucus. Unexpectedly (a friend gave me his ticket at the last minute because he was too sick to go), I landed a ticket for Kerry's Hardball college-tour appearance, in October 2003. Until that moment, I was just your average disgruntled Democrat appalled by W., with the vague notion that the time had come for me to really Do Something to help my party beyond voting and giving $. I knew very little about Kerry until that moment- but listening and watching him that evening, I suddenly thought -- I can still remember the feeling of shock --"wow, he's the Real Thing". I was totally in, from that moment on.
It was fun in those early days: small groups of people working the phones, paying no mind to the nay-saying pundits, people just helping someone they believed in.
(At the Democratic convention the next year, James Carville described Kerry's pre-Iowa political prospects in those early days): Kerry was "not only toast, but buttered on both sides" .
But Kerry kept at it, anyway.
He's still got that persistence, and it is really paying off in his courageous diplomacy.
Thinking about my pre-Iowa experiences, and all the current Stuff , on DU and elsewhere, about the 2016 presidential candidates , it's a good reminder that , for 2016, it's still early days. Lots of stuff can happen between now and the Dem convention and the Nov 2016 election, and lots WILL happen. I keep using the metaphor of roller-coaster ride, but I think it will be wilder than that. A roller-coaster does after all have some predictability: for all the up and down, it DOES nevertheless ride on a track. Judging from events so far, this election seems like it will be wilder than that -- so far it feels like there's no track at all.
MBS
(9,688 posts)So much complaining and yelling on GD these days - this thread is such a refreshing contrast.
Like you, I have enormous respect for Sec. Kerry. "Magnificent" is indeed the word to describe him and his work as Sec. of State. Just a joy to watch. His diplomacy has been daring, creative, and thoughtful- AND effective!
Please may this Iran deal go through.
eridani
(51,907 posts)And also don't forget to thank any of your reps who have already announced their support. They're getting so much pressure from AIPAC, Republicans, Big Money, etc-. . Those have the courage to stand up against that pressure deserve an extra round of applause (and thanks).
tularetom
(23,664 posts)Powell and Rice of course were horrible and Hillary Clinton turned the State Department into the fund raising arm of the Clinton Foundation.
mylye2222
(2,992 posts)The real issue is not wherever she used a private mail box. Is that she collided CGI and SoS job.
Secretary Kerry , upon arrival, straight used a state.gov adress.
emulatorloo
(44,187 posts)Perhaps you would not be so quick to embrace every Rightwing Fake 'Scandal' to take down HRC.
HRC is too conservative for me, but I don't care for Rightwing smears aimed at our candidates. The Clinton Cash book was debunked a while ago, email ghazi is falling apart now.
mylye2222
(2,992 posts)That said, I am not endorsing every RW Lies. As I stated above the emails were not illegal. BUT it is clear Clinton foundation benefited from HRC' s tenure. She shiuld have separated activities (philantropic and diplomatic) upon her arrival. Period. She was imprudent and I cant believe she didnt thought at any moment it could backlash at her.
I saw DU Archive on 2004-2004 time. The more I saw was DUers calling Kerry a coward after Election Day.