Posted on 05/07/2012 10:27:54 AM PDT by raccoonradio
WASHINGTON — His name’s not on any ballot, but the November election will have the biggest impact on U.S. Sen. John Kerry’s political future since his presidential loss in 2004.
That Kerry would like to assume a spot in President Obama’s cabinet if the president is re-elected — specifically, at the State Department when Hillary Clinton leaves the post, as she has promised to do — is probably one of Washington’s worst kept secrets. Kerry, still smarting from 2004’s presidential election loss, has spent the ensuing years with his nose to the grindstone focusing on foreign policy, commerce and infrastructure. But he’s also been regrouping and considering his political future. A Cabinet post isn’t the Oval Office. But it’s a pretty nice place to land.
But whether or not he’d accept that spot, if it’s offered to him, depends in large part on the outcome of this year’s Senate race between U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren. Kerry “doesn’t want Scott Brown to be the senior senator from Massachusetts,” one political operative told me.
There is little love lost between Kerry and Brown, and handing Brown such a gift would be tough for the five-term senator, should Brown and Obama both be re-elected.
Of course, folks from Boston to Washington who are close to the senator assure me that Kerry loves the job he has. After all, being the 12th most senior senator on the Hill and holding powerful committee posts is nothing to sneeze at. If he is called by the president to serve, he would consider it seriously, but he doesn’t need a promotion, I’m told.
Last week Kerry told Politico that his higher profile on the campaign trail boosting the president’s foreign policy positions is not a job tryout. “I’m not thinking about it,” he said to Politico of the secretary of state rumors. “I’m going to run for re-election (in 2014) and I’m very happy doing what I’m doing.”
But of course Kerry wants to be secretary of state, just as he did in 2008 when Obama chose Clinton for the post instead. That hurt, too. No matter what he tells reporters, Kerry wants his political legacy to start with something other than “failed presidential candidate.” The ghosts of the 2004 presidential election still haunt him — as does the fact that his desire to try again in 2008 was eclipsed by Obama’s national momentum.
If Warren wins the Senate race, it’d be a no-brainer. But frankly, the same should be true if she loses. Yes, it will leave a bad taste in Kerry’s month to allow Scott Brown to rise higher. But Kerry also would be giving Warren a potentially big present, too: a second bite of the apple in a special election for his vacated Senate seat. For once, letting go of old ghosts and rivalries might give everyone a chance to move forward, Kerry included.
Holy Crap.
Horseface as Secretary of State ?!?
Isn’t there some Kennedy spawn layabout looking for a kewl gig between waitress sandwichs?
If Bielat could beat JoeJoeJoe Kennedy maybe JoeJoeJoe could then run for Senate in a special election should (God help us) Obama
win re-election and tap Liveshot for Sec-State.
I predict the Fake Indian will still win with promises to hold public floggings of bankers.
If Obama loses, Kerry will have to reconsider his 2014 decision to run again. If Obama wins, it is a no-brainer that Kerry will jump to the Cabinet if the Reps gain control of the Senate.
Imagine Hanoi John telling world leaders about his secret mission in Cambodia. “It was Christmas of 68. Nixon sent me there. Good thing I had my lucky hat! I was in Vietnam, you know. Hey, wanna see my rice shrapnel scar?”
Ambassador to Vietnam? I hear he’s been.
Ha.....sorry but I think the PRESIDENTIAL race will have a little more impact on this scenario Mr. Ed
Hard to believe Hanoi John would want to be Sec’y of State.
In that job, he would actually have to be on time for cetain meetings and be somewhat accountable to a boss (the president).
Instead of the Senator gig he’s had for 30 years, where he jets around, spews lies, and occasionally shows up in the Senate to vote the wrong way on a bill.
The only plus I see with Kerry as Sec of State is he would be out of the country for long periods of time.
John Kerry is a despicable traitor to his country, and I do not use that term lightly.
Not Fonda Kerry memories
Tonk Memorial post
Really? Pray tell. I don’t recall it coming up before.
/s
So Kerry loses the presidential race and they set him up for a reward in Obama’s cabinet? Now the Wise Cherokee is going to lose her Senate race, and they’re already planning to set her up for the other seat? Being on the left means never having to admit you’re a failure.
Or if, Insha-Allah, Romney wins and appoints Kerry ambassador to his much beloved and congenial France. France and Kerry deserve each other.
Where else would a liberal go? Certainly not the dreaded private sector.
If Warren loses to Brown, especially if she loses decisively, she’s through. She big-footed all her significant rivals out of the primary with a nod from the White House. The knives are out for her.
Cloakley is essentially career limited to attorney general, no one in the Massachusetts Democratic Party wants anything to do with her, and she is a home-grown, dues-paying pol who worked her way up the greasy pole. Warren is an outsider who parachuted out of Harvard and the White House to descend on the snake pit of local Massachusetts politics.
If she fails to take out Brown, she is toast.
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