Obama Policy Team ‘Trying To Rein In’ Kerry

[wpelb]

Since succeeding Hillary Rodham Clinton as America’s top diplomat, Kerry has issued several as yet undelivered — and perhaps undeliverable — pledges to allies and rivals alike, proving a source of concern for Obama’s policy team. It is trying to rein in Kerry somewhat, according to officials, which is difficult considering Kerry has spent almost half his tenure so far in the air or on the road, from where his most dissonant policy statements have come.

The White House quickly distanced itself from both Kerry’s North Korea remarks and has now, since President Barack Obama’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Northern Ireland this past week, seen up close the strength of Moscow’s resistance to Kerry’s Syria strategy.

All the officials interviewed for this story spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to evaluate Kerry’s performance publicly.

Officials: Obama Policy Team ‘Trying To Rein In’ Kerry After Issuing Several Pledges To Allies, Rivals

Are these officials really speaking "on condition of anonymity" because they aren't officially allowed to speak publicly about Kerry, or do they really want Hillary Clinton back? Or both?

On edit: for some reason, the link isn't showing, at least on my browser. The article's full title is "Officials: Obama Policy Team ‘Trying To Rein In’ Kerry After Issuing Several Pledges To Allies, Rivals," and it's at CBS's local Washington, D.C., affiliate.

[leveymg]

1. Link, please, Hillary. eom

[DURHAM D]

7. There isn't a link to Hillary.

Link below is to a story about Obama's team and Kerry.

The OP is just having fun throwing a stink bomb or perhaps he thinks Obama's team is really Hillary's team.

[Larkspur]

2. They're leakers and they should be arrested!

How dare they leak to the public the Obama Admin's concerns about Sec. of State John Kerry!

[graham4anything]

3. Rubbish. (where's the link???) this unshown link is just trying to stir things up. nt.

[Harmony Blue]

4. The infighting has commenced

instead of addressing concerns about Americans they are turning one another. Sad to watch it all unfold.

[leveymg]

5. It's actually AP. Here's the link:

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2013/06/23/officials-obama-policy-team-trying-to-rein-in-kerry-after-issuing-several-pledges-to-allies-rivals/

[MBS]

9. boy, this is infuriating.

"loose and innacurate talk"???? WHAT?
That's an offensive and inaccurate assessment of who Kerry is.

Kerry is one of the most deeply knowledgeable on foreign policy of any American statesman or politician today.His subtlety, graciousness, deep experience and personal knowledge of the players in the middle east and Europe are huge assets, and his diplomatic skills surpass those of many in the White House security team. Oh, yeah, and environment, too: he's been at that for 1974, and is clearly eager to move us, and the world, forward on that front in his capacity as SoS. I can't think of anyone I'd rather have as the top diplomat of the US right now.


I smell an agenda here: by small-minded rivals/political opponents elsewhere in the administration, or by AP (not known lately to be the most objective of news sources, to say the least). The reporter must have had to dig deep in the gutter to pull out those rumor-level alleged inaccuracies (stories which I'd never heard before, and I followed the 2004 campaign intensely). If this nonsense arises from some in -house rival, that's deeply disappointing, as Kerry has been very loyal to the Obama administration and does not deserve to be the target of infighting.

By the way, as far as the environment is concerned, I REALLY don't want Kerry to be "reined in": he has a lot to teach Obama, who does not feel to me as committed to these issues as Kerry, who has consistently fought for environmental issues , for almost 40 years. I really hope that Obama will heed the views of his environmental advisors, such as Heather Zichal and, yes, Kerry, as he crafts his talk tomorrow.

[leveymg]

10. Second terms are like this - Hillary and Kerry proxies going at it. Typical crap.

[DURHAM D]

13. "Hillary and Kerry proxies going at it"

You just made that up. Did you even read the article?

[leveymg]

14. Yes. It's an unattributed hit piece that references Hillary in a positive light. Political theater.

Unless you think Obama is expressing his disapproval in his SOS through anonymous leaks to AP.

[DURHAM D]

15. So you just lied because you didn't like the story.

No I don't think Obama is expressing anything.

My guess is that Samantha Power has once again pulled out her long press contact list and run her mouth when she should have gone to bed and slept it off.

[leveymg]

16. How did I lie??? Anyway, you may be right about Powers being the source.

If there's infighting within the WH national security team, that also is not such novel concept.

[karynnj]

29. Powers is a long time friend of Kerry's - and supported him in 2004

The AP itself has plenty of reporters that never liked Kerry. One hint that there may be no high powered source - or anyone we even know the name of is the idiotic comment attributed to Biden. Consider that the same reporters have made the same claims re Biden himself - when in fact, it is clear that Obama respects him.

[bananas]

19. Found the by-line.

Same article on Yahoo has the by-line:

http://news.yahoo.com/top-diplomat-kerry-battles-deliver-big-ideas-134244552.html

Top diplomat Kerry battles to deliver on big ideas

By BRADLEY KLAPPER and MATTHEW LEE | Associated Press – Sat, Jun 22, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) — In four months as secretary of state, John Kerry has certainly promised great things. Now he has to deliver.

<snip>

[Beacool]

40. So?

If an article puts Hillary in a positive light it HAS to be one of her proxies?

Please don't stir up crap where there's none. We have enough infighting in this place.

[karynnj]

43. The article essentially says nothing about Hillary

Nothing good - nothing bad. Only that he followed her as SOS.

[karynnj]

21. Kerry does not do that and it is not in Hillary's interest to do that

Kerry and his people have no history of this type of behavior. In fact, much the opposite.

I don't know if it is fair to complain that it's the Hillary people. There have been articles that have knocked Kerry since he became SoS. It doesn't hurt Hillary in the least if Kerry succeeds at any of the thorny issues he is involved in. It is better for her if he and Obama do. If foreign policy is a mess in 2016, it hurts Hillary if the issues have roots in the first term. If things are better, both Kerry and Hillary will get praise. The Hillary friendly media will argue that Kerry's work started with stuff Hillary did and would mention that a lot of the team stayed.

From what I can see, a lot of the negatives are from the right and some from people afraid that he will be a more honest broker on the middle east (a very low bar to pass).

However, one way to see that it is unlikely to be true is to look at things that were assigned to him. He and Obama clearly coordinated on Israel - with their various speeches really working well together. Kerry was clearly involved in helping Turkey and Israel resume relations. Kerry has been the person sent to Russia and elsewhere to work on the hopeless issue of Syria - clearly the biggest problem (fp) that Obama faces. In addition, Kerry is the one again talking Karhzi down from the cliff. Does this sound like Obama is trying to rein him in?

You can make a stronger case that Obama reined Clinton in. For comparison, note HRC was sidelined on nearly every tough issue - she was not the key FP person on Afghanistan or Pakistan (Holbrooke and the then Chair of the SFRC were), Iran (Biden led that) or Israel (George Mitchell - with Denis Ross added later - were)

A take that seems more based on what Kerry seems to be doing is this NYT article - http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/23/world/following-a-star-kerry-applies-personal-touch.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

[leveymg]

25. Thnx - I was reading it as politics as usual, but there are other interested parties. No doubt

Very informative NYT piece - the AP piece is . . . a piece of work.

[karynnj]

28. I thought the NYT article was a very fair interesting assesment

- if something so early can be called an assessment.

I think one the last two paragraphs -in a roundabout way - answer some claims here. He clearly is a acting as a team player and I really expect that we will never know if he disagrees with policy. That is one thing lost with him becoming SoS, but gaining him as a representative of the country and as one of the many voice Obama hears is worth it.

[Beacool]

41. Always after Hillary, huh?

SHE chose Mitchell and Holbrooke, not Obama. Furthermore, Obama and his people never cared for Holbrooke.

I saw this article when it came out, but I didn't want to stir any bad blood by posting it. So, please try to defend your guy without kicking dirt in Hillary's direction.

[karynnj]

42. I defended Hillary here

Note that I also did not post this article. Others accused Hillary and company - and I argued against that. Incidentally, Mitchell was appointed by Obama - Dennis Ross was the one HRC wanted for that.

You completely misinterpreted what I was saying. My point is that Kerry has been given every key foreign policy issue as his portfolio - which argues against the thesis of the article. My point was that it would have been even easier to make that case for Hillary - which NO ONE did. This is not dirt thrown at Hillary. She very likely chose her role - and it is one that lends itself to running for President - as an international advocate for women and children.

[wpelb]

11. Thanks for providing the link

For some reason, trying to provide the link through the link feature in the editor just leaves that part of the message blank. I don't know if there's a problem with board software or browser compatibility.

[bananas]

12. I have that problem too. nt

[bananas]

17. 1955 newspaper: "Hitler's Tomb Still Rubble Heap"

The article at your link says "On his very first day as secretary, he recounted his childhood bike rides in postwar Berlin past Adolf Hitler’s tomb. Hitler had no tomb."

Newspapers at the time referred to the ruins of the Reichschancellery and Fuhrerbunker as "Hitler's Tomb", and the description is similar to Kerry's.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1755&dat=19550501&id=CXgcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=52QEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2246,69213

Sarasota Herald-Tribune - May 1, 1955

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler

Death of Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler committed suicide by gunshot on 30 April 1945 in his Führerbunker in Berlin.[1][2][3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%BChrerbunker

The Führerbunker (English: "Leader's bunker&quot was an air-raid shelter located near the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. It was part of a subterranean bunker complex which was constructed in two major phases, one part in 1936 and the other in 1943. It was the last of the Führer Headquarters (Führerhauptquartiere) to be used by Adolf Hitler.

<snip>

After the war both the old and new Chancellery buildings were levelled by the Soviets, but despite some attempts at demolition the underground complex remained largely undisturbed until 1988-89.

http://www.thewashcycle.com/2013/02/john-kerry-on-biking-around-post-war-berlin.html

<snip>

Since Kerry was born in '43', his travels to Berlin would have been in the middle of the 50's.

Probably a wake up call to a 12YO.

Well after the war and the blockade. But before the 'WALL'.

Posted by: George T. | February 04, 2013 at 01:20 PM

<snip>

http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2013/02/203717.htm

Welcome Remarks to Employees

Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
February 4, 2013

The video is available with closed captioning on YouTube.

<snip>

And the first stamp in it, the first arrival, was 1954 in Le Havre. And back then the State Department, we went over – we spent six days at sea on the S.S. America and the State Department and the United States Government sent us over, the entire family, first class. Don’t get any ideas. (Laughter.) Anyway, I – we went to Berlin, and this was not too long after the war, and I used to ride my bicycle around Berlin, it was my pastime, my passion, and rode everywhere, the Grunewald, around the lakes, up and down the Kurfurstendamm, the church where the steeple burned down, past the Reichstag, burned out, past Brandenburg Gate, past Hitler’s tomb with these amazing, huge concrete slabs blown up. And I just roamed around. It was stunning how little control there was.

And one day – in my sense of 12-year-old adventure, I think it was then – I used this very passport to pass through into the East Sector, the Russian sector, and I bicycled around, and I’ll tell you, as a 12-year-old kid, I really did notice the starkness, the desolation. In fact, I was thinking about it the other day. If the tabloids today knew I had done that, I can see the headlines that say, “Kerry’s Early Communist Connections,” something like that. (Laughter.) That’s the world we live in, folks.

<snip>

[karynnj]

22. Thanks for your research here

In 2004 at the convention Kerry spoke of the impact of seeing both sides - and he used the same joke that he was grounded. From the various descriptions, seeing Berlin at that time made a major impression on the intelligent, serious young boy.

[Arkana]

36. Ah yes, the AP is stirring shit again.

[Bluenorthwest]

6. I have been wondering how long they'd let Sec Kerry talk abut LGBT rights so vocally

he's a strong advocate and that really chaps the butt of some in the administration.

[MBS]

8. yes, indeed. n/t

[Rosa Luxemburg]

18. Kerry used to chair the foreign relations committee

Obama is used to what Kerry says.

[Mass]

20. Perfect example of why anonymous sources should not be allowed.

You have no way to know who this person is and whether he/she has an agenda. There is no question that Kerry has not only friends in the White House. The day Rice was named National Security Adviser, the stories about how she would be his boss started. Now this.

[karynnj]

23. The funniest thing was when media "experts" said that she would be his boss -

ignoring that if that was the case Bush demoted Condi Rice - and to add insult to injury, required her to submit to difficult Senate hearings.

[Mass]

24. Kerry unable to solve difficult problems in 5 months.

This is how this article should be solved.

I have no clue who is the source, but this is ridiculous. I agree that there is probably a different agenda behind that than the Clinton's people.

[wisteria]

32. Funy, Rice came to my mind to as well as that story about who was boss. n/t

[politicasista]

26. Smells like the pitts in the summer silly season

The article, that is.

[Major Hogwash]

27. Hahaha!!! Good one.

I knew they were going to start comparing Kerry to Hillary and everyone else, but man, he sure as hell beats what Bush had in his cabinet for the Secretary of State.

I heard a good joke about Bush's cabinet about 6 years ago:

"What does President Bush have in his cabinet?
A half of a dozen cans of all different kinds of nuts, and a fifth of bourbon.

Now that Bush's first term is over, the fifth is already gone, but the nuts remain."

[politicasista]

30. Bingo

[Cha]

38. Exactly, politicasista.. you nailed it. And, no link to see who's writing this

crap. I don't believe it.

[politicasista]

39. Bingo

It reads like a DC gossip tabloid.

[wisteria]

31. This is the first I heard of this nonsense. SOS Kerry must be making progress

on seveal fronts, and some do not want to see him succeed. Much of the reporting from the AP has been conservative for several years now, and Kerry's efforts are too diplomatic, less hawkish and more progressive than some would like. Oh, and then there is the question of the money offers. If this attack piece ends up in a Scaife or Murdouch publication-with big headlines, that says it all.

[karynnj]

33. Actually, it now is in RW sluge heap - Hot air

I saw it when I googled Kerry's name, but I didn't click to read it there.

[wisteria]

34. Good move not to click the link. n/t

[Jeneral2885]

35. Principal-Agent theory

Simple IR theory in action

[wpelb]

37. Are there really any allies in politics?

Even someone of the same party, working in the same administration, may be ready to stab you in the back if they can do it under the cloak of anonymity. If there's a reporter with a similar agenda, or who has the ability to create "sources" out of whole cloth and get away with it, they will.

Sec. Kerry had best watch his back, and he probably should keep an eye on some of those people closest to him at State.

[karynnj]

44. I have no doubt that he knows this well

In addition to being on Nixon's enemies list in the 1970s, he had to protect himself against many on the far left. Of the far left, there were people against the fact that he fought in the first place, people angry that he was a junior officer, not enlisted, and people jealous that his background, looks and eloquence gave him entry to places they couldn't get to.

In the Senate, his life and reputation were both at risk when he went after illegally funding the Contras by drug and gun running and going after OBL's bank BCCI. However, over time he became respected by a very large percent of the people who served with him in the Senate. Mostly because he knew exactly who he was and his focus has always been trying to make things better.

He has brought some people in who were on his Senate staff for years and some who worked for Obama having years ago worked for him. I assume that there are plenty of non-political State Department people and some of these may well disagree with Obama's policies which Kerry will work to implement. (He will lobby for what he thinks is right, but he was really clear here that if Obama chooses a different course, he will do his job.)