A Statesman Too Late?

[Mass]

Sigh. I cannot decide whether I should be happy or infuriated by this article. Bernstein has always had a lot of respect for Kerry, but at the same time, he cannot avoid repeating the old memes (Kerry is made fun of by MA and DC), and if he recognizes Kerry's qualities for service, his conclusion is that it is pretty much irrelevant given the mess in DC. I took me until the end to get what the goal of this article was: Kerry should campaign against Brown in MA. If Dems lose, it will be his fault. I love David Berstein, but this is absolutely insane an analysis.

The caption of the picture tells it all:


THE IMPOTENCE OF BEING EARNEST Are Kerry’s strengths — bipartisanship, compromise, honest debate — relevant in the Tea Party’s America?

Read more: http://thephoenix.com/boston/news/127215-statesman-too-late/#ixzz1YgFKfRd5

http://thephoenix.com/Boston/news/127215-statesman-too-late/

...

Popular political interpretation says that this is the latest stage in Kerry's lengthy audition for secretary of state — a job coming open if Obama wins a second term, since Hillary Clinton has said she will not serve beyond 2012.

Kerry, according to this view, is eager to leave the Senate, where he has served for 26 years — the last seven after narrowly failing to become leader of the free world. He was passed over for Clinton in 2009, and is now desperate to show his fealty and utility to Obama in any way possible.

But some who know Kerry say that people are missing the real story. Unable to become the most powerful man in the world, they say, Kerry has turned his focus on being the most effective senator he can be — as Ted Kennedy did, after losing in his own presidential bid 30 years ago. In this view, volunteering for the debt committee falls right in line with other big tasks Kerry has taken on of late, trying to save the planet from everything from global warming to nuclear proliferation.


...

But while most of America — and much of Massachusetts — continues to chuckle at Kerry's foibles and quirks, he has emerged in Washington as an old-fashioned statesman.

"I think he's in his prime," says Thomas Quinn, veteran lobbyist with Venable in Washington, and once part of Ted Kennedy's campaign team. "Only three or four other senators have as strong a grasp of the issues and can articulate them as clearly."


...

Yet Kerry is not only avoiding taking sides among the Democrats (one of whom, Setti Warren, is a former aide of his), he is pledging to stay above the fray until after the September 2012 primary — a full year of keeping his powder dry.

"It's very important that I work with Scott Brown" and other Republicans, he says. "My job is to focus on my work here in Washington."

An admirable, high-minded thought. But it may very well help lead to the unreasonable, low-minded Republicans taking over the Senate. If there's one thing less relevant than a statesman in today's Senate, it would be a statesman in a Senate where the know-nothings are in charge.



Read more: http://thephoenix.com/boston/news/127215-statesman-too-late/#ixzz1YgFrqsBd

The latest puzzles me. If Kerry is so unliked in MA, why would campaigning against Brown be useful?