"Kerry Is the Right Choice

[karynnj]

18. Not just the media, there were many Senators who praised Kerry

as the natural choice - and not just Republicans. What I was meaning was that Kerry as chair of SFRC, Obama and the party had:

1) A distinguished loyal chair of SFRC. Just as in 2008, when the idea was floated that Kerry could not be spared as Feingold as chair could be a potential problem, this year Menendez is worse. In addition to his hard right Cuba policy, he is far more hawkish with regards to Iran and far less likely to make the effort Kerry has - sometimes even when it could harm his own reputation - to smooth things in the Senate for Obama.

2) Kerry as chair of SFRC also diminishes the fact that Rice has at best mediocre relations and links to Congress. Expect Kerry to do the heavy listing to get confirmations and administration policy passed - he is far more capable, has the relationships, and did so even when Clinton was SOS.

3) Kerry is a force on the Finance committee and seems well respected by Baucus. (Again as you say, he and Murray have taken on the uncomfortable roles. I would add Durbin to that group.) I would expect that Kerry would be one of the people that Obama/Reid would push to work on a grand bargain. Another lose/lose proposition for any Democrat.

4) It means that Massachusetts need not worry about a special election - something you and other Massachusetts people feel is not that great a hardship.

5) There is no reason that Obama would not use Kerry as a diplomat - with no credentials - just as he did in three of the thorniest problems last term. He did some very good things and got relatively little credit. (With Afghanistan, the Clinton allies even usurped what Kerry did assigning it nearly word by word to Hillary. I guess you can say that was flattery, but not really.)

6) It also leaves Kerry as a fund raiser - something I doubt anyone really enjoys doing, but in the last 5 elections he has been one of the best.

Beachmom posted in 2009 of how Obama did not help the various people in Chicago who facilitated his career. That he looked more to who could help him in the future. This was clearly true in his picking Clinton - and Bill's help in the election may not have been anywhere near as good without it and that could have been critical. But, I would bet that in 2008, Clinton likely wanted HHS to head the healthcare effort - and there were rumors of that or her heading it in the HELP subcommittee. With Kerry, he did nominate Kerry allies to plum diplomatic posts and he has invited him and Teresa to the state dinners, so it is not like he has been ignored.

As to Rice, I don't get what Obama sees in her over Kerry. She is smart, but even before the SOS talk, she was seen as occasionally contentious. She was impressive in her hearing in 2009. Given the Obama's people's claim that Clinton's name recognition would make her more effective, they are pretty hypocritical as Kerry is FAR better known than Rice and he is a born diplomat - which few call Rice. (The only plus for Kerry is that he will be home with Teresa more often.)