Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
BY CHRISTINA HARTMAN
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is on her way out, she says, to kick back for a little
bit. As for who replaces her, UN Ambassador Susan Rice is of course out after withdrawing
her name from the list Thursday, which quickly renewed speculation surrounding Massachusetts
Senator John Kerry — who in his DNC speech earlier this year focused on foreign policy.
KERRY: “Will we entrust our place in the world to someone who just hasn’t learned
the lessons of the last decade?”
His impending appointment was all just speculation, and technically still is, but The Chicago
Sun-Times’ Michael Sneed is now reporting President Obama has already chosen, and that
choice is Senator Kerry.
Kerry chairs the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and though he initially backed
the U.S. invasion of Iraq became a staunch opponent.
Sneed had also previously reported Kerry to be Ms. Clinton’s preferred replacement.
Again, nothing is official — in fact Sneed’s source is anonymous — but it isn’t exactly
a bombshell. The senator from Massachusetts has long topped the list of likely candidates.
That despite prolonged controversy over the prospect of an Ambassador Rice appointment.
Rice faced criticism over her response, to the attack on a U.S. consulate in Benghazi,
which killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens.
There were times, it seemed, that her Republican critics even WANTED Kerry to take the job,
though some called it a cynical attempt to vacate a Massachusetts Senate seat — after
the GOP’s Scott Brown lost his seat in elections last month.
Still, if it turns out Kerry is the president’s pick to become the nation’s top diplomat,
The Washington Post’s David Ignatius says there’s three reasons why that would be
a good thing.
1) “He recognizes that the world is a mess.” 2) “Kerry appreciates the importance of
quiet diplomacy...” 3) “He’s ... willing to challenge conventional
wisdom...”
But a writer for the Powerline Blog calls Kerry’s record on foreign policy “...distinguished
by its devotion to mischief, error and misjudgment.”
The writer references Kerry’s 1971 testimony before the House Foreign Relations Committee,
in which he testified that U.S. soldiers had committed atrocities in Vietnam. The issue
could very well resurface if Kerry is nominated.
It became the subject of now-infamous Swift Boat ads against him.
“He dishonored his country, and more importantly the people he served with. Just sold them
out.”
The Chicago Sun-Times’ Michael Sneed reports, according to his source, New Jersey Senator
Bob Menendez would take over as head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee if Kerry
becomes the next secretary of state.