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press reports on JK's first day at State (please add to this!) [View all]
1. Euronews:
http://www.euronews.com/2013/02/04/kerry-takes-over-at-the-state-department/
has video snippet of his appearance (archived video is now also up at http://video.state.gov/en/top-stories/video/2141914063001/secretary-kerrys-arrival-at-the-state-department/s~creationDate/p~1/?p)
Text excerpts from Euronews story:
US Secretary of State John Kerry has started his first day in office with a witty and joke-filled speech to his staff. . .
Kerry is the son of a diplomat and is expected to continue along the same lines as Hillary Clinton, who left plenty of unfinished business.
“Secretary Kerry now has a lot on his plate. The situations in Iran, Africa and the Middle East require his full attention. And as the bombing of the US embassy in Ankara, Turkey, has shown, America remains vulnerable abroad,” says euronews’ Stefan Grobe.
Kerry is the son of a diplomat and is expected to continue along the same lines as Hillary Clinton, who left plenty of unfinished business.
“Secretary Kerry now has a lot on his plate. The situations in Iran, Africa and the Middle East require his full attention. And as the bombing of the US embassy in Ankara, Turkey, has shown, America remains vulnerable abroad,” says euronews’ Stefan Grobe.
2. WaPo #1, page 2 of front section in hard copy (by Dana Milbank, who seems to get more conservative with each passing week..but, anyway, here is his take . )
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-john-kerry-made-for-foggy-bottom/2013/02/04/53524a0e-6f0e-11e2-8b8d-e0b59a1b8e2a_story.html?hpid=z5
excerpts (I'm leaving out the usual tired memes, of which there are plenty in this article)
But when he showed up in Foggy Bottom on Monday for his first day as secretary of state, Kerry delivered punch lines without strain or struggle. . .
“So here’s the big question that’s before the country and the world and the State Department after the last eight years,” he told hundreds of diplomats who packed the State Department lobby to greet him. “Can a man actually run the State Department?”
As the laughter and applause died down, he added, “As the saying goes, I have big heels to fill.” He went on to describe riding his bicycle into East Berlin as a 12-year-old when his father was serving as a diplomat. “If the tabloids today knew I had done that, I can see the headlines that say, ‘Kerry’s early communist connections,’ ” he quipped.
He continued, easily and smoothly, for just 14 minutes . . . without notes and with obvious joy at beginning what he called the “great adventure” of being the nation’s top diplomat. Mentioning the cubicle he occupied during the transition between Hillary Rodham Clinton’s tenure and his, Kerry told his new colleagues, “I cannot tell you how great it feels to, sort of, be liberated. .?.?. I’ve been freed.” This was true on multiple levels. Kerry, after much striving, was finally where he belonged. At 69, he is in the job he had trained for his whole life . . . Often rumored to be in line for the post in the past, Kerry was palpably joyful to have the prized assignment. “This — this is beyond a pleasure,” he told the diplomats.
Not since John Quincy Adams, perhaps, has a man been bred to be secretary of state as John Kerry has. . . . Kerry, preceded by a security squadron, waved, shook hands and chatted up his audience — even the reporters. “We’ll catch up!” he called out to Time magazine’s Jay Newton-Small. “What’s your first priority?” Newton-Small asked. “Find my office!” he returned. (This may not be as easy as it sounds; it took this reporter 30 minutes, and multiple redirections, to gain admission to the State Department lobby.)
“So here’s the big question that’s before the country and the world and the State Department after the last eight years,” he told hundreds of diplomats who packed the State Department lobby to greet him. “Can a man actually run the State Department?”
As the laughter and applause died down, he added, “As the saying goes, I have big heels to fill.” He went on to describe riding his bicycle into East Berlin as a 12-year-old when his father was serving as a diplomat. “If the tabloids today knew I had done that, I can see the headlines that say, ‘Kerry’s early communist connections,’ ” he quipped.
He continued, easily and smoothly, for just 14 minutes . . . without notes and with obvious joy at beginning what he called the “great adventure” of being the nation’s top diplomat. Mentioning the cubicle he occupied during the transition between Hillary Rodham Clinton’s tenure and his, Kerry told his new colleagues, “I cannot tell you how great it feels to, sort of, be liberated. .?.?. I’ve been freed.” This was true on multiple levels. Kerry, after much striving, was finally where he belonged. At 69, he is in the job he had trained for his whole life . . . Often rumored to be in line for the post in the past, Kerry was palpably joyful to have the prized assignment. “This — this is beyond a pleasure,” he told the diplomats.
Not since John Quincy Adams, perhaps, has a man been bred to be secretary of state as John Kerry has. . . . Kerry, preceded by a security squadron, waved, shook hands and chatted up his audience — even the reporters. “We’ll catch up!” he called out to Time magazine’s Jay Newton-Small. “What’s your first priority?” Newton-Small asked. “Find my office!” he returned. (This may not be as easy as it sounds; it took this reporter 30 minutes, and multiple redirections, to gain admission to the State Department lobby.)
3. WaPo #2 ("regular" article, also on page 2 in hard copy)http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/new-secretary-of-state-john-kerry-calls-several-foreign-officials-on-first-weekend-on-the-job/2013/02/03/c47a37ce-6e63-11e2-b35a-0ee56f0518d2_story.html
On his first day at the office in his new job, the former senator and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate was greeted with loud cheers by employees of the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
4. WaPo #3 (Monday). in the "bold-faced names". Poor man. .
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/reliable-source/post/hey-isnt-that-john-kerry-late-for-church/2013/02/03/bc5ccbe2-6e54-11e2-8b8d-e0b59a1b8e2a_blog.html
• John Kerry causing a stir in church Saturday. The new secretary of state arrived 20 minutes late for evening Mass at Holy Trinity and was escorted out by his security detail before it ended — bummer for well-wishers hoping to shake his hand.
5. WaPo #4 : business section. And here we go, with all that unfinished business left for him. .
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/new-us-secretary-of-state-john-kerry-warns-of-consequences-if-nkorea-conducts-3rd-nuclear-test/2013/02/04/5baac60c-6f47-11e2-b35a-0ee56f0518d2_story.html
SEOUL, South Korea — New U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his South Korean counterpart have agreed to make sure North Korea is punished if it carries out its threat to conduct a nuclear test. Amid signs that such a test is coming, South Korea’s president also speculated that Pyongyang may detonate multiple atomic devices simultaneously. . .
#5 NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/05/us/politics/kerry-vows-to-protect-diplomats-on-1st-day-at-state-dept.html
Reporting for Duty, Kerry Pledges to Protect Diplomats
WASHINGTON — In his first day at the office as secretary of state on Monday, John Kerry sought to send the message that he had an affinity for the nation’s diplomats and would look after their security.. . To underscore that point, Mr. Kerry later in the day took a short drive across the Potomac River to visit the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security in Rosslyn, Va.
In his confirmation hearing on Jan. 24, Mr. Kerry suggested that he planned to make a diplomatic push on Israeli-Palestinian issues, an area that has not received sustained high-level attention by the Obama administration since a failed effort to broker talks between the two sides in 2010.. .
Much of Mr. Kerry’s day, however, was spent reaching out to the American diplomats he has been eager to lead. Mr. Kerry has brought his own press adviser to the State Department, Glen Johnson, a former reporter for the Boston Globe who has covered Mr. Kerry and Massachusetts politics for years. But there were also indications that some top-level senior State Department officials who had worked with Hillary Rodham Clinton would stay on.
Mr. Kerry’s effort at outreach extended to members of a youth orchestra from Afghanistan as well. After hearing the orchestra was playing in a State Department auditorium, Mr. Kerry showed up at the event and volunteered that he had played guitar as a teenager in a rock band called the Electras.
WASHINGTON — In his first day at the office as secretary of state on Monday, John Kerry sought to send the message that he had an affinity for the nation’s diplomats and would look after their security.. . To underscore that point, Mr. Kerry later in the day took a short drive across the Potomac River to visit the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security in Rosslyn, Va.
In his confirmation hearing on Jan. 24, Mr. Kerry suggested that he planned to make a diplomatic push on Israeli-Palestinian issues, an area that has not received sustained high-level attention by the Obama administration since a failed effort to broker talks between the two sides in 2010.. .
Much of Mr. Kerry’s day, however, was spent reaching out to the American diplomats he has been eager to lead. Mr. Kerry has brought his own press adviser to the State Department, Glen Johnson, a former reporter for the Boston Globe who has covered Mr. Kerry and Massachusetts politics for years. But there were also indications that some top-level senior State Department officials who had worked with Hillary Rodham Clinton would stay on.
Mr. Kerry’s effort at outreach extended to members of a youth orchestra from Afghanistan as well. After hearing the orchestra was playing in a State Department auditorium, Mr. Kerry showed up at the event and volunteered that he had played guitar as a teenager in a rock band called the Electras.
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