Kerry "Aims to Make a Mark as a Senate Chairman"

[ProSense]

Kerry, After Setbacks, Aims to Make a Mark as a Senate Chairman

By CARL HULSE
Published: January 12, 2009

<...>

Mr. Kerry, an acknowledged authority on many aspects of the international landscape he will be surveying, said that he was looking only forward, that too much was made of personal political wrangling, and that he was settling in for an aggressive engagement on foreign affairs in concert with the administration, or on his own if need be.

“We will not hesitate to try and push and cajole and leverage where we think we need to,” Mr. Kerry said.

<...>

“This is a great job,” Mr. Kerry, who turned 65 last month, said in an interview. “This is an opportunity to affect policies I have cared about for a long time. I am sitting in a terrific seat. I am independent, call my shots. There are a lot of virtues, believe me.”

<...>

“John Kerry is one of the best-informed people on foreign policy in Washington,” said Senator Russ Feingold, the Wisconsin Democrat who would have been in line for the chairmanship had Mr. Kerry joined the cabinet. “I think this is an opportunity he has waited for for a long time. He has credibility not only within the Senate but among the American people as a very serious player.”

<...>

Mr. Kerry has also moved to beef up his investigative staff, an indication that he might try to concentrate significant effort on the type of Congressional inquiries he headed earlier in his Senate career. Those committee investigations were once a hallmark of Mr. Kerry during a Congressional tenure that some believe has never fully met expectations.

<...>

Mr. Kerry said his agenda extended far beyond global warming to the multiple crises in Africa, changes in South America, conditions in Iraq, the strategic relationship with China, the Middle East and the current state of Pakistan and Afghanistan, which “frankly, are both really messy right now.”

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[fedupinBushcountry]

1. Great article

He is going to be a breath of fresh air and will make the SFRC what it is suppose to be.

:kick:

[leftstreet]

2. 'Congressional inquiries' Help me...that term sounds so familiar...

:thumbsup:

[bottomtheweaver]

4. A quaint custom of the late republic

soon to be restored.

[thunder rising]

5. Unless it really upsets the minority party ... then we won't

[bottomtheweaver]

6. CNN won't, CSPAN won't, the NYT won't, Reid and Pelosi won't

but Kerry did and Kerry will, I have no doubt of that.

[fedupinBushcountry]

7. You don't know John Kerry

as it says in the article "I am sitting in a terrific seat. I am independent, call my shots. There are a lot of virtues, believe me.”

[blm]

20. Yep - this time with Kerry having SUBPOENA POWER and no Dems blocking investigation

and a Dem president who will likely cooperate with access needed to documents, not protecting the secrecy and privilege of BushInc the way the last one did.

[bottomtheweaver]

3. "the type of Congressional inquiries he headed earlier in his Senate career."

BRING IT ON BABY!!!

[karynnj]

8. THis is a nice - but strange article

It seaks of how this would be the pinnacle for any other Senator - but for Kerry is less so. They quote everyone on all knowledgeable he is - and mention his previous investigations - something that he did better than anyone currently in the Senate. Then say that he hasn't met expectations - which suggests that the expectations for him were far higher than for other Senators. (Not to mention in terms of policy making - the positions both Obama and Clinton ended up with were variations of Kerry/Feingold and every Democrat took his 2004 position on terrorism and all copied his environmental/energy proposal. Obama too his idea of re-insurance for catastrophic costs. These are ALL big policy issues - and if Obama adopts any of them - Kerry will have affected policy.)

I found the comment that Biden thought he was better off heading SFRC very interesting - as Biden clearly wanted SoS under Kerry. If anything, being SoS with someone like Kerry as President is similar to being SoS with Biden as VP. It may be that Biden was taking Kerry's interests and personality into consideration - and seeing that he is very independent.

I like that he has invited the committee to dinner at his house. That should really be nice.

[Muttocracy]

15. very good points - Kerry would have been a great Sec of State but has other talents too

As Sec of State he wouldn't be able to do as much on environmental issues. I felt similarly about Biden in some ways - as Obama's Sec of State he wouldn't be working on other issues important to him.

There is so much foreign work to be done, I expect it will be sort of split somehow among Clinton, Rice, Biden, and Kerry. But Kerry gets to have oversight of the executive, and I don't care who's in the White House, I like branches to watch over each other.

Liked this quote from Kerry:
“I think we are standing on the threshold of a huge opportunity to actually get something done,” he said. “The Obama administration is going to have to get up to speed very, very quickly.”

[karynnj]

18. I agree with you - though there will be an international global warming treaty

Kerry has shown that he can be a very good diplomat - even when he did not have the title to do that. He was instrumental to the agreement at Bali - per the Bush people(!!) and he did an amazing job in Vietnam and Cambodia. I haven't met HRC, but I haven't seen evidence that she could be a good diplomat - mainly because I don't see her having the patience and the inclination to really listen to what others are saying that Kerry has.

However, I think his real gift is that unlike most politicians he has both a philosophical view of foreign policy and he can translate it to action.

An example of what I am speaking of is in things like his view of how to move societies to join the civilized world - in both cases, he is really speaking from the same mindset - (Lebanon) http://www.johnkerry.com/news/entry/a_crucial_time_for_saving_lebanons_fragile_democracy ; (Palestine) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXd66eae9K8 - this was from a pretty uncontrolled forum in MA. At the first 2005 SFRC, he spoke the same way about the various Iraqi groups - as he did in 2004.

But, there are many people Obama will be listening to on foreign policy. If Obama respects Kerry's insights, he will get them - no matter what position he is in. I suspect that he does agree with kerry pretty often or he would not have had him out as often as he did speaking of foreign policy - there were others Obama could have used including HRC or Richardson. (Biden was VP which puts him in a different category.)

I suspect that Kerry might also be needed on the Finance committee - where Kerry and Wyden are the only non-conservative Democrats. Kerry has already spoken of using the SFRC to investigate the problem of international tax havens - which he and Jack Blum spoke of as an international probem needing an international solution at a Finance committee hearing last year. (Kerry was the only one on both committees) Kerry also is second on the Commerce committee.

Then again - look at this post by Prosense - and consider how full circle John Kerry presiding in the SFRC over hearings on how to prevent the use of torture in future wars or working to prevent genocide would be. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=273x155282

[PresidentObama]

9. It kills me that our country "passed" on Kerry as President...

...I know he'll make us proud and leave his mark as the SFRC chairman!

[jillan]

10. I am looking forward to watching SFRC hearings on CSpan with Kerry at the helm.

He'll be an excellent, excellent chairman.

[PresidentObama]

12. Absolutely. A great replacement for the Vice President-elect n/t

[Jennicut]

13. There is no one I would like better then to replace our next VP!

[jillan]

17. Exactly - there is no one I would rather see than John Kerry take over that role.

[MarjorieG]

11. Just posted on Kerry thread; hadn't seen yours here. Great article.

Yours is better job of streamlining, and never did learn how to make boxes.

[Muttocracy]

16. think it might be div tags

< div class="excerpt" > < / div> (without spaces) is what I can see from viewing the page source.

[politicasista]

14. K & R

Interesting, this thread only has 13 replies compared to the one that said that Kerry "criticized" or "bloviated" PE Obama. :sarcasm:


:kick:

[PresidentObama]

19. Positive Kerry threads sadly never go over well here n/t