John Kerry

From what I know of Susan Rice (admittedly, not very much), I find myself disliking her. And, as the Kaplan article notes, "diplomatic" seems not to be part of her persona at all (again, from what I know). Honestly, I can't imagine why Obama is so keen (at least according to the rumor mill) to have her as SOS, or even why she'd be a serious candidate at all. A white house security advisor, maybe: but not diplomacy

The SOD thing is ridiculous. It's a totally inappropriate choice for Sen. Kerry.

If any of these rumors are even half-true, I think that Sen. Kerry might in fact retain more of his sanity, independence and authority, and could possibly accomplish more of significance, from his Senate seat. . just MHO.

This is random, but, through a series of unexpected and bizarre circumstances, I actually got to see Sen. Kerry at a lunch this past week. He looks very well ( I thought to myself: there is no way this man is 69 years old. I also thought to myself: "see? Integrity is good for your health&quot . In his informal but public remarks, only a day after the SOD rumor broke in the news, he mentioned the "stuff"only in passing (something roughly like "obviously there's stuff swirling about, but in the meantime I'm continuing to do what I always do, focusing on the people of Massachusetts" (etc). Please don't quote me, or try to parse this too finely, as I didn't take notes, so, at best, I'm giving you only the general gist). His brief remarks focused chiefly on the election, his hopes for the upcoming congress (he thinks the political mood of the country has changed, doesn't think we'll go over the "cliff", he thinks we'll make progress on tax reform, and he is very pleased by the new crop of Dem senators, and that all but one of the senatorial candidates supported by his PAC won reelection) . He reaffirmed his continued commitment to environmental issues and hopes that we'll FINALLYget going the next year on this urgent problem. He also noted that he's planning to give a major speech on climate change soon. If I understood him right, he implied that he's hoping to give the speech this coming week. I don't know whether he meant a speech to the Senate (seems unlikely if it's next week-- wouldn't they be off for holiday?) or somewhere else.
Perhaps he really meant the week after Thanksgiving?? If someone sees an announcement or record of such a talk, please post it here! I would love to know what he says.

Anyway, for whatever my tiny glimpse is worth, it looks like Sen. Kerry is weathering the storm OK. And that's because, I think, he knows who he is, he knows what he can contribute, and he is determined to contribute no matter what title is offered to him, and no matter what he decides to accept. (except, please NOT SOD).

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!