Ramblin' Man: John Kerry is a Figure of His Times (and That's Not a Good Thing)

[marmar]

from TomDispatch:



Ramblin' Man
John Kerry is a Figure of His Times (and That's Not a Good Thing)

By Peter Van Buren


In the 1960s, John Kerry was distinctly a man of his times. Kennedy-esque, he went from Yale to Vietnam to fight in a lost war. When popular sentiments on that war shifted, he became one of the more poignant voices raised in protest by antiwar veterans. Now, skip past his time as a congressman, lieutenant governor of Massachusetts, senator, and presidential candidate (Swift Boated out of the race by the Republican right). Four decades after his Vietnam experience, he has achieved what will undoubtedly be the highest post of his lifetime: secretary of state. And he’s looked like a bumbler first class. Has he also been -- once again -- a true man of his time, of a moment in which American foreign policy, as well as its claim to global moral and diplomatic leadership, is in remarkable disarray?

In his nine months in office, Kerry's State Department has one striking accomplishment to its name. It has achieved a new level of media savvy in promoting itself and plugging its highest official as a rock star, a world leader in his own right (complete with photo-ops and sophisticated image-making). In the meantime, the secretary of state has been stumbling and bloviating from one crisis to the next, one debacle to another, surrounded by the well-crafted imagery of diplomatic effectiveness. He and his errant statements have become global punch lines, but is he truly to blame for his performance?

If statistics were diplomacy, Kerry would already be a raging success. At the State Department, his global travels are now proudly tracked by the mile, by minutes flown, and by countries visited. State even has a near-real-time ticker page set up at its website with his ever-changing data. In only nine months in office, Kerry has racked up 222,512 miles and a staggering 482.39 hours in the air (or nearly three weeks total). The numbers will be going up as Kerry is currently taking a 10-day trip to deal with another NSA crisis, in Poland this time, as well as the usual hijinks in the Middle East. His predecessor, Hillary Clinton, set a number of diplomatic travel records. In fact, she spent literally a full year, one quarter of her four years in office, hopscotching the globe. By comparison, Cold War Secretary of State George Schultz managed less than a year of travel time in his six years in office.

........(snip)........

As for Kerry’s nine-month performance review, here goes: he often seems unsure and distracted, projecting a sense that he might prefer to be anywhere else than wherever he is. In addition, he’s displayed a policy-crippling lack of information, remarkably little poise, and strikingly bad word choice, while regularly voicing surprising new positions on old issues. The logical conclusion might be to call for his instant resignation before more damage is done. (God help us, some Democratic voters may actually find themselves secretly wondering whether the country dodged a bullet in 2004 when George W. Bush won his dismal second term in office.) ....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175767/tomgram%3A_peter_van_buren%2C_america%27s_top_diplomat_is_lost_in_space/#more

[geek tragedy]

1. Unrec.

The logical conclusion might be to call for his instant resignation before more damage is done. (God help us, some Democratic voters may actually find themselves secretly wondering whether the country dodged a bullet in 2004 when George W. Bush won his dismal second term in office.) ....................(more)

The logical conclusion is that Van Buren got fired from the State Department for writing sexually derogatory comments about Hillary Clinton, talked about wanting her dead, and compared Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler. Oh wait, that's just a fact.

[TwilightGardener]

2. Geez, I haven't read anything even REMOTELY this critical about Kerry anywhere else.

Maybe John Kerry once took this guy's parking space or something.

[karynnj]

3. If you google him, you will find that he was fired by the State Department for cause

He wrote some very very inappropriate stuff on Hillary Clinton and Obama- see Geek Tragedy above.. Looking over other things he wrote, it is clear that he respects almost no one (the most positive was Colin Powell at the beginning.)

This garbage has been posted everywhere What is annoying is that that it mostly left sources - like the Nation, Mother Jones and Salon. Apparently his previous behavior does not bother them.

He is included as a whistle blower because of a book he wrote - while a SD person on the fiasco of the effort to rebuild Iraq. Some of the links appear to be the very far left, some the far right.

What surprises me is that this career SD person has the overall view that the US can do less because it is less powerful or respected. I have always thought that POV that the US power was a means to force all to do what we want is very US centric and arrogant. I can't see any country agreeing to anything that is not in what they perceive their interest. Therefore, a successful diplomat has to be adept at finding and politely leading others to a mutually better solution. (Think Kerry/Lavrov Syria)

There is another Twitter trend where Former Amb Marc Ginsberg is unhappy with Kerry re Syria which he said on MSNBC. However most of the comments (and there weren't many) were that it was a FP success. (I will not be surprised if Kerry and Ob ama manage to defuse the call to bomb Iran that MANY neocons - in both parties - will not be super happy with Kerry.

[TwilightGardener]

4. Thanks for that backstory--puts it in perspective, then.

[blkmusclmachine]

5. Never cared much for JK after he let GWB and his goons steamroll him, over and over agin, in 2004.

Kerry was the Fall Guy for the 2004 election, I guess...

[The Stranger]

6. Will John Kerry just please go away? So long and thanks, John, but really.

For and against the Iraq invasion, and therefore couldn't call out the Neonazicons.

This really does capture what is wrong with others in our party, in particular our Congressional leaders:

unsure and distracted, projecting a sense that he might prefer to be anywhere else than wherever he is. In addition, he’s displayed a policy-crippling lack of information, remarkably little poise, and strikingly bad word choice, while regularly voicing surprising new positions on old issues

Touche'.