Kerry tipped for secretary of state
Name to fore after UN envoy steps aside
Democratic Sen. John Kerry stands tall as U.S. President Barack Obama’s good soldier. And Obama seems likely to reward that by nominating him, perhaps in the coming days, to succeed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the top U.S. diplomat.
The Massachusetts lawmaker and former Democratic presidential nominee has flown to Afghanistan and Pakistan numerous times to tamp down diplomatic disputes.
He has spent hours drinking tea and taking walks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai or engaging in delicate negotiations in Islamabad.
It’s a highly unusual role for a Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman: envoy with a special but undefined portfolio.
Kerr, 69, has pushed the White House’s national security agenda in the Senate with mixed results. He successfully ensured ratification of a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia in 2010 and most recently failed to persuade Republicans to back a UN pact on the rights of the disabled.
Throughout this past election year, he skewered Obama’s Republican rival, Mitt Romney, at nearly every opportunity, played the role of Romney in Obama’s debate preparation, and was a vocal booster for the president’s re-election. Kerry memorably told delegates at the Democratic National Convention in August: “Ask Osama bin Laden if he’s better off now than he was four years ago.”
The prospects for Kerry for secretary of state soared last week when UN Ambassador Susan Rice, a top contender for the post, withdrew from consideration to avoid a fierce fight with Senate Republicans over the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
A Kerry nomination has been discussed with congressional leaders, and consultations between the White House and congressional Democrats have centred on the fate of his Senate seat, according to officials familiar with the situation who were not authorized to publicly discuss the talks. If the seat were in play, it could boost the prospects for recently defeated Republican Sen. Scott Brown to win back a Senate seat.
The selection of Kerry would close a political circle with Obama. In 2004, it was White House hopeful Kerry who asked a largely unknown Illinois state senator to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic convention in Boston, handing the national stage to Obama.
Senate colleagues in both parties say Kerry’s confirmation would be swift and near certain, another remarkable turnaround.
Eight years ago, the Republicans ridiculed Kerry as a windsurfing, flip-flopper as he tried and failed to unseat Bush.