FANTASTIC Hill article about JK as Chair of SFRC to get us through this day...

[Kerryvisionary]

Chairman Kerry: Born for the Job
1971 Testimony Heralded Future Role on Committee
By Josh Kurtz
Roll Call Staff
Jan. 19, 2010, 12 a.m.

SNIP

By all accounts, Kerry has jumped enthusiastically into his committee work since becoming chairman a year ago. He’s committed to helping the young president and his administration but is mindful of the panel’s constitutional duties and oversight powers. People who follow the committee closely say Kerry has brought a forward-looking approach to the job, buttressed by the kind of intellectual and political heft that is unique to a former presidential nominee with 40 years of involvement with foreign policy.

“He ran for president, he came very close to being president, so he brings more than the regular gravitas to the job. And he handles it very well,” said Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.), Biden’s replacement in the Senate.

In Kerry’s first year as chairman, the committee held 125 hearings and recommended 127 Obama administration nominees to the full Senate. He also delivered 13 major foreign policy speeches and wrote two dozen opinion pieces on a broad range of topics that his committee has jurisdiction over.

But more important than the quantity of the work product is the direction in which Kerry has tried to lead his committee. While remaining a steadfast ally to Obama, Clinton, Biden and the rest of the administration’s foreign policy team, Kerry has sought to provide a road map of international challenges and opportunities for the U.S.

Three pages at the link! No big picture, but a VERY nice one buried in the sidebar at right.
http://www.rollcall.com/issues/55_77/ci_foreign_relations/42346-1.html

[whometense]

1. Thanks -

that is a wonderful article.

[blm]

2. Great article...would LOVE to see it in GD.

.

[YvonneCa]

3. It's nice to see excellent, positive articles about...

...Senator Kerry. Finally. Thanks for posting it.

[karynnj]

4. That is a fantastic article

I love the comments throughout by Senator Kauffman. (I think the author did make one error - I think it is the League of conservation voters - not conservative voters - that had such nice things to say on climate change!)

[Inuca]

5. And I assume

that Kauffman yalks more or less with Biden's voice.

[karynnj]

6. I wouldn't assume that - Kaufman is on the SFRC and he is one who

attends hearings and is ususally very good when he speaks there. He also is not running for re-election, Biden's son likely is. He clearly is a Biden ally and friend, but I would suspect that, at most, that would lead him to simply not be negative. The comments are an incredibly positive endorsement of Kerry's intelligent leadership, skill, and his ability to lead the committee well. It is hard to imagine a more positive description of anyone running a committee. On a personal and professional level, he is an outstanding "boss".

(Some of the comments, such as his courtesy to junior colleagues, actually seem to be praise in areas where Biden was not as good. You could actually tell the difference just watching the hearings of each.)

[Inuca]

7. Kind of a sily statement (mine), actually

even had I typed "talks" instead of "yalks" :-).

[karynnj]

8. Not silly at all

and my typing is really bad.

[wisteria]

9. Great article.

Of course, Dale from the Heritage Foundatiion could not fine one nice thing to say-not surprising.
And the last comment, I hope to see that too.