Nice articles I found that reminded me of Kerry.

[MonteLukast]

One directly, one indirectly.

Subtle first:
Living With Opposites, from a wonderful blog I just discovered, Slow Leadership, that's all about making our workplaces more humane.

The things we most admire about JK have to do, basically, with being able to contain opposites. Emotional and spiritual maturity, patience, diplomacy, curiosity, reality-based human judgment... none of those things can come about through a fixed black-and-white outlook on life, but require an acceptance of life's duality.

I keep seeing evidence that a Bush presidency was no accident, for it was the logical conclusion of what our society had been building towards for many years (helped, no doubt, by conservative ideology).
What has television made us? Creatures of instant gratification.
What have we been encouraged to do, psychologically, for the last decade or so? Go with our guts and first impressions.
What has conservatism encouraged us to do morally? Reject "relativism" and hold black-and-white thinking as the only ethical choice.

This part particularly interested me: {D}enying the other end is an exercise in futility. In our world of duality, any effort to focus all attention on the ‘light’ only serves to increase the power of the ‘darkness’.
What else have we been emotionally called upon to do, by virtually every authoritative source from employers to books? Cultivate a positive mental attitude... in practice, primarily by running away from the opposite (negative) polarity.
Which doesn't work in the long run, least of all for our spirituality.

Accepting life’s duality is key to growth. When you bring together opposites into a higher understanding, you grow in consciousness, self-awareness, maturity and the ability to self-reflect. You learn to explore why these elements are in our life, and what they can teach us about ourselves, our values and our choices.

Why ARE the Joe Kleins, Kathleen Parkers, David Brookses, and Boston Globes so often smarmily insinuating about Kerry's shortcomings and implying he lacks competency as a human being?
... Could it have something to do with running away with something they find undesirable in themselves... namely, their own tendency to run away from facing life as it is, and the resultant lack of growth and maturity?

Now, the direct (from the 2004 debates):
http://www.e-thepeople.org/article/35744/view?viewtype=best&skip=10

This is a person who started warming up to JK late in the game, and had this to say about him:

Tonight the distinction between Kerry and Bush has never been clearer; how they perceive the world, how they approach issues are vastly different. Most situations are not black or white. Yet, Bush sees the world thru a lens of good vs evil, black vs white, yes vs no, right vs wrong, period. In contrast, Kerry knows the world is not either-or. Kerry's answers said as much, and more.

And I especially liked these bits:

Kerry displayed a warmth, sincerity and compassion tonight I had not seen before. He does not talk down to us. He speaks intelligently to us. How refreshing it is to actually be treated like a "grown-up!"

Obama is in many ways a stand-in for JK... speaking intelligently to the American people, waking us up out of our lowest-common-denominator-driven thinking (probably planted by Republicans).

Kerry simply came four years too early for Americans to be ready for it.