Very classy: Kerry smacks down "de facto Sec. of State" question as "inappropriate" in presser

[beachmom]

This is an example of the press making up a conflict that does not exist. Anyone who has read detail accounts of John Kerry's negotiations with Karzai in Afghanistan knows it was a team effort, where he was constantly on the phone with Secretary of State Clinton and Special Envoy Dick Holbrooke, not to mention the U.S. Ambassador Eikenberry. But that did not stop the press from playing games. Kerry would have none of it:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/10/kerry-common-sense-that-obama-should-wait-on-new-afghan-strategy-until-runoff-compelte.html#

Kerry was asked about some calling his actions this week as those of a so-called de factor Secretary of State.

He called this characterization unfair, that he had Secretary of State’s Clinton’s support, and he was not freelancing in any way.

“That’s an unfair characterization. I don’t think that’s appropriate,” Kerry said, “I was in touch with Secretary Clinton constantly. I appreciate the way in which she embraced my role. We talked frequently. I thought it was important that I not take steps in some freelancing way that wasn’t appropriate to the administration’s policy. And she encouraged me to stay at it and be engaged in it and I think we work as an effective team.”

[SpiralHawk]

1. The Republicon corporate media serves the Republicon corporate borg

not America, and not the citizens of America.

[Catshrink]

2. Classy, as always.

:headbang:

[theoldman]

3. Obama is smart in sending the right man or woman to do the job.

Different people have different talents. I do not remember Secretary Rice ever accomplishing a mission successfully. Bush put too much faith in her.

[rvablue]

4. While ultimately, of course, Obama's decision, who's to say that

Secretary Clinton wasn't part of the decision-making progress.

The GOP and the media don't like teamwork.

[beachmom]

11. There is no doubt she was part of the decision making.

Harry Reid talked to her on the phone and she specifically said Kerry was doing good work in Afghanistan. Basically, Harry needed Kerry back in the Senate, so Hillary was telling him WHY JK could not be there.

It was on the Senate floor:

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/congress/?q=node/77539&hors=s#

Click on Reid, about a minute and a half in.

[rvablue]

13. Nice. Love factual info like this! n/t

[kestrel91316]

18. Teamwork is for godless commies.

:rofl:

[Engineer4Obama]

5. Equal branches of government

Kerry Represents the United States Legislative branch.

Personally I think Obama is lucky he has three very capable diplomats in Clinton, Biden, and Kerry.

[Cha]

7. Obama is smart and lucky and so

are we!

Kerry is nothing but Class.

[politicasista]

26. The man in your avatar would be very proud

of his friend, student and successor as the now Senior Senator of MA.

[xultar]

6. I'm surprised that no one here bought into it. Alot of the shit in the primaries

was media provoked conflict to push Hillary into the evil bitch role and DU fell for that shit HOOK LINE AND SINKER.

[DrToast]

8. What a load of crap.

Yeah, clearly it was the media to blame for all the shit she did.

You know, like agreeing that Florida and Michigan didn't count and then, oops, all of the sudden they did.

Yeah, that was all media.

[Clio the Leo]

10. Little bit different relationship between the President and Sec. of State now isnt there? NT

[oasis]

14. Certain members of DU were predisposed to fall for anything anti- Hillary.

I'm so glad everything is all "lovey-dovey" nowadays :woohoo::grouphug::woohoo:

[karynnj]

31. That shows how manufactored the media concern was - anything real

would have had a huge number of threads, with warring posts.

Instead, the story was that there will be a runoff in Afghanistan, giving hope that the government has a prayer of being seen as legitimate. The fact that Kharzi publicly conceded there was fraud and that this runoff is in accordance with their law is a very good sign. ( Note that even Al Jazeera has his spokesman saying this is their process - http://www.youtube.com/v/RR9z_8VA1R0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1 I obviously can not see this as someone in the Middle East would, but the good thing is that this is not being shown as American interference. )

The other story was that John Kerry, did an incredible job here getting Kharzi to take this step. From this and other accounts, Kerry was told of the problem by Ambassador Eikenberry. From this, it is clear that he briefed Clinton on the first meeting he had with Kharzi after that and she was happy to approve him continuing conversations with him. She was in no way undercut here. Kerry was working for what everyone including President Obama and Hillary Clinton wanted and doing with their approval and appreciation.

For the media to try to make this a celebrity story (Kerry vs Clinton) is ridiculous - when they were working towards the same thing. I would hope that Clinton is happy that Kerry is getting the praise he deserves here.

[Clio the Leo]

9. Wasn't that a stinky pile of poopie? NT

[ProSense]

12. Excellent. n/t

[Mass]

15. Sadly, this question is a good example of the level of the media, all gotcha and no substance.\nt

[beachmom]

16. Yup. The articles Prosense linked to in her thread were awful.

Lots of quotes from David Gergen (sigh).

[karynnj]

33. I think the AP article she linked to is very good - I wonder if they changed it

from when it was first posted. Kerry really is doing things beyond what most SFRC chairs can do. When he took over the position, there were articles that with a President of the same party, it was less important than when the Chair was of the opposite party and thus the foreign policy voice of the opposition. What this article admits is that that view was very myopic.

It recognizes some, though not all, of the diplomatic assists that Kerry has been able to give to the Obama team, while doing his job. It doesn't speak of the many incredible hearings Kerry has held, especially on Afghanistan. Just from the words used by various administration people, it is clear that they have been one source of input to the administration. (A serious press would have used them more to understand the complexities of the strategy decisions.)

The only fault is the title "de facto diplomat" and the later refuting of "de facto Secretary of State". It is easy (and I bet intentional that the use of the same Latin (thus "special") adjective is designed to conflate the two. The fact is that Kerry was in fact a a diplomat here - but he was not playing the role of Secretary of State - any more than Holbrooke has there or Mitchell will in the Middle East. That was the media deciding that making it a Kerry vs Clinton story was more fun than covering what it meant to Afghaistan, for which this is just a necessary wee baby step to getting a trusted government. Now, they just have to prepare elections in a very short time frame, run them in a way that no one cries fraud, get a winner and THEN either build a government if Abdullah wins or do major (probably public) house cleaning to prove that he is addressing corruption, if Kharzi wins. That does not negate or minimize Kerry's triumph, but it was avoiding disaster rather than creating peace there.

[burning rain]

17. You have to figure that Gibbs having referred to "Secretary Kerry"....

has something to do with this little controversy.

[beachmom]

19. Well, to be fair, Gibbs mostly refers to "Secretaries" in these kinds of things,

AND Senator and Secretary both begin with "S".

[burning rain]

20. Hmmm, then, it wouldn't hurt 'em to dig up....

some other instances in which Gibbs has referred to senators as secretaries (not that this is the end of the world in any case). Otherwise there will be suspicion that this reflects the thinking / preference / wish of some within the administration, rather than a simple slip of the tongue.

[ProSense]

21. Gibbs' slip doesn't account for the media's feigned cluelessness about

Kerry's role.

[beachmom]

22. Actually, from a more extended AP article on Huff Po, Kerry has a good answer:

Earlier Wednesday, Gibbs slipped during an off-camera briefing and called Kerry, "Secretary Kerry." Gergen did the same thing during a telephone interview.

"I'm famous for making one or two slips in my public life," Kerry said with a weary smile. "So I wouldn't take that too seriously."

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/21/kerry-becomes-global-advi_n_329426.html

[Cha]

24. Cool~

B-) Always like a little self-deprecating humor.

[wisteria]

27. You know, I wish the media and other pols had taken that view of Kerry's minor gaffes. n/t

[Inuca]

29. Lovely answer n/t

[beachmom]

23. Video at Politico:

http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/1009/reporting_for_duty_f01fff11-51fe-4380-a17e-531a3fc22aab.html#

A reporter asked basically, "How does it feel being de facto Sec. of State", and Kerry interrupted and said that wasn't fair.

[PopSixSquish]

25. The Media Are a Bunch of Clueless Fecking Idiots

As I said on another thread, I would think that the head of the SFRC, the Secretary of State and the President talk to each other on a regular basis. Well at least they do in a normal administration...

[babylonsister]

28. Did abc or anyone point out that Cantor and Palin went to Israel

and Hong Kong (?) respectively and flat out dissed our current president for his policies? Overseas actually criticizing the president?

Kerry consults the SoS constantly, is actually helping to make democracy happen, and "the media" criticizes this?

Sigh.

[beachmom]

30. But they went out of their way in '07 to knock Pelosi & other Democrats

like Kerry who went to Syria.

[karynnj]

34. True, even though Dodd and Kerry, who went together, were on

the relevant oversight committee - Kerry was even chair of the relevant sub-committee - and they asked for and received a list of questions from Dr Rice that she wanted answers for. (Important as, at that time, she wasn't speaking with Syria.)

Palin has no such role.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

32. Right

and lest we forget, DeMint went to Honduras as a show of support for their illegitimate regime. So far, I haven't heard much criticism of any of them in regards to their foreign policy "initiatives". Oh, and what about that one Congressmen questioning the Obama administration to the Chinese? :eyes:

[TomCADem]

35. Very Classy Response - Avoid Media Effort To Generate Drama