It took a little longer than expected, but President Obama today introduced Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) as his nominee for Secretary of State in his second term.
To call Kerry well qualified for the post is a dramatic understatement, given the senator's lengthy career in international affairs, including having served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Indeed, Kerry quietly sought this position four years ago, and has almost been a Secretary of State in-waiting ever since -- he has in recent years "shepherded the passage of a critical arms-control treaty and conducted a series of quiet missions on behalf of the president, notably at moments of crisis with Afghanistan and Pakistan."
Kerry is expected to sail through the confirmation process with ease -- Republicans smeared Susan Rice and forced her from consideration, but the four-term senator will fare far better -- and even his infamous Swift Boat attackers have said they intend to give Kerry a pass.
Looking ahead, it will be of particular interest to see how Kerry uses this prestigious post to elevate the climate crisis, an issue Coral Davenport recently covered in an interesting National Journal piece.
"No senator since Al Gore knows as much about the science and diplomacy of climate change as Kerry," said David Goldwyn, an international energy consultant who served as Clinton's special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs. "He would not only put climate change in the top five issues he raises with every country, but he would probably rethink our entire diplomatic approach to the issue."
Update: Here's the video of the president introducing Kerry as the nominee.
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Awesome and excellent pick, but dear God... not another opportunity for Scott Brown to embarrass the nation.
But he meets with Kings and Queens!
(Hats off to the Republicans -- they played this just right to get Brown back. Rs know how to win.)
PS -- I can only hope Hillary can spend the next 2.5 years refreshing....
...who else is guardedly suspicious that the Republicans are conceding so easily over Kerry? They revile the man. Rolling over this quick isn't out of any guilt over Rice either, that is certain.
Tell me this won't end up a senate seat victory for them. Lie to me if you have to.
Wish I could. Democrats best get their heads out of their very proper rectums up there in Massachusetts.
Brown got whipped by Warren. Sitting senators do NOT lose to unknown, untested, never-elected opponents. And he got whipped badly.
This time around the Dems will not run Martha Cokely. Boy, would I love to see Ben Affleck run! Or Teddy's kid.
Unknown? Somehow I don't think so.
What some of us worry about is that the Senate hardly has enough Democrats now. One less and it is another @!$%# sandwich. That plus we have seen this before from this very president. Has he really learned nothing? (and I support most Obama's moves, just not this one, or cutting Social Security, or his cannabis lunacy...)
if coakely runs (or even thinks about it) i'm running down the pike to boston and dope-slapping her a good one.
Too bad he didn't actually pick Al Gore, then there wouldn't be the chance of losing a seat in the Senate. Hopefully this circus show the GOP is putting on now will dissuade people from voting for Brown.
Kerry is expected to sail through the confirmation process with ease -- Republicans smeared Susan Rice and forced her from consideration, but the four-term senator will fare far better -- and even his infamous Swift Boat attackers have said they intend to give Kerry a pass.
Of course they will, they're all looking forward to the final result of their conspiracy - the return of Barn Coat Boy and his pick'em up truck.
Mental illness has such a horrible stigma---that we, as a Nation, won't even count the CT shooter in the official death count???? He was, admittedly, one sick bastard, but he certainly count(s)(ed) to someone.....Isn't that the whole freakn problem with mental illness...and guns........we are ALL IN DENIAL.
I'm not that worried about Scott "Man-whore" Brown. His "mask" of "moderate conservative" was destroyed in 2012, he won't be running again until 2014 (if then), and his opponent will not be the incompetent Martha Coakley. So long as we get a good Dem in the primary, we'll hold the seat.
So long as we get a good Dem in the primary, we'll hold the seat. That is the key .
Plus he created so many attack ads for us last campaign.
Republicans and videotape, its a wonderful thing.
rachel maddow for senate
Score another Republican victory.
yup...
Yes, Kerry may very well put 'climate change' at the top of his to-do list.
After all, the Department of Defense considers it the Number One threat to out security!
I am optimistic. We will have our newest Senator, Elizabeth Warren, out there helping whoever the D candidate will be.
We're all a little campaign tired right now, but next summer will find us out there fighting hard so that the democrats keep this seat.
I didn't hear a whole lot of nice things about Scott Brown after his debates with Warren and as a result he got buried on election day. His debate talking points were really insulting.
We can win again if we put the right democrat in there against him.
Thanks for that, Pat. I'd love to see the Republicans' little scheme backfire and have yet another new Dem face in the Senate.
So glad Elizabeth Warren won. I'll bet her contribution in the coming months will go a long way to help re-energize Democrat voters who have given up because they don't see the point of expending any effort for so little result.
This is disturbing.
What do conservatives have to say about this?
How about a note from an attorney? She needs to rest so she can avoid a stroke.
Why would conservatives act so stupid?
It's not acting.
University research has confirmed conservatives actually are stupid.
it has been shown that there are basic structural and chemical differences between the brains of liberals and those of conservatives.
liberal brains are empathetic, inclusive and trusting.
conservative brains are made of wood.
Sweet revenge would be to get Susan Rice to run for Senate.
how fast can she meet the residency req's?
It's impossible to imagine anyone from the United States having any credibility lecturing other countries about global warming. If Kerry brought it up any foreign official would look at the man representing the United States and laugh in his face. The U.S. is a frickin' embarrassment on global warming and the world should mock us remorselessly. We let the wingnuts embarrass us nonstop.
It occurs to me that had 2004 gone slightly differently, the picture would be an outgoing two-term president discussing the future with his successor.
2004 is so yesterweek.
After all the pushing Republicans did for Kerry he better be confirmed unanimously.
Reality doesn't matter: the political optics are that Republicans have chosen the Secretary of State.
Maddow Show had a great bit a while back about how the whole McCain Gang salvo against Susan Rice was probably a sly play to get Kerry's seat to open up, and again boost Scott Brown's chances in a special election setting. But an even better segment was the show on 9/12, which I still have on the Tivo. It had an amazing pull-together of clues and data crumbs that pointed to the embassy attack in Benghazi -- from the day before -- likely being linked to Al Qaeda-affiliated groups. I was pretty stunned the next week when Rice, on Meet the Gregory, went nowhere near that theory in describing the "early" intelligence on what happened. I haven't gone back to check it against the latest accounts of what happened in the attack, but I bet the 9/12 segment was a whole lot closer than anything the brain trust gave Rice to say that Sunday. So, good reporting, Rachel. And maybe we should tell the WH to watch the show more often to avoid putting out info that can easily be shot down, or worse, fodder for the kind of smear campaign that the McCain gang of three pulled off.