The WaPo profile of Kerry

The WaPo has an impressive two-part article on Kerry's life and career. It was a good read and seemed balanced.

I'm sort of in awe of Kerry and a bit nervous. He seems like a very complex man with an expansive mind. I like that -- in fact, he's the first candidate I've been really excited about (I'm 29 and I was excited by Clinton but mostly because he was from Arkansas, my home state). On the other hand, I'm not sure if voters can wade through all that complexity.

Part 1: Discipline and Ambition Overcame First Defeat
Part 2: Shifting Within Party To Gain His Footing

Here are some quotes I liked:

"He has a capacity for patience -- certainly he showed almost inexhaustible patience, far more patience than I have," McCain said. "It's a vital ingredient in getting to result. I acquired profound appreciation for his excellent work on a terribly difficult, emotional issue. That's what causes people to be friends."

Remarkably popular for a Massachusetts Republican, Weld was a fiscal conservative and civil libertarian whose self-mocking charm was expected to play well against Kerry's dead-seriousness. Yet a series of eight debates televised statewide left the dead-serious guy in the lead.

"In terms of effectiveness as a debater, he's as good as it gets," Weld said. "Like the Minnesota Vikings defense in the old days, he'll bend but he'll never break."

"The inner person named Kerry is revealed only in moments of conflict and great stress," said Chris Gregory, a Vietnam veteran and friend since the antiwar movement who has worked in all of Kerry's campaigns. "Every time he gets elected, it's the same deal. His campaigns are wars. He goes straight at the other guy, and the voters have to ask who's more disciplined, who's more durable, who's more honest, who's more intelligent, who's more faithful, who's the better man? None of those things does he personify, but in comparison to someone else, it's Kerry."

•  My personal feeling about Kerry...

  ...is that he is at heart a good and decent guy, articulate and confident, yet still not settled on how to project himself on the national media stage. I think the fact that the convention is in Boston will help him settle into himself immensely and I look forward to a brilliant speech on Thursday.

  by eugene on Mon Jul 26, 2004 at 04:22:09 AM PDT

•  Kerry is a cool guy

  I'm getting tingly about him, really.

  If you think about it, from a liberal perspective, John Kerry could be the best President since Johnson.  And I think that Johnson was an incredible President, except for Vietnam.

  His plans may not be incredibly bold, but they inarguably move in the right direction.  And there's no Clintonian dark side here.  Nothing like NAFTA or Welfare Reform waiting in the wings.  I'm sure he'll do things that disappoint the base, but I really doubt that he's planning any massive reversals like that.  I know this doesn't sound super-inspiring, but to me it is.  The idea that we could have a President who works toward unabashedly liberal goals is very exciting in our post-Reagan era.

  And, more importantly, he's shown a willingness to actually fight for Democratic ideals which has been largely missing from the party for years now.  It hit its nadir during the early years of the Bush presidency, but the idea that "good Democrats don't fight" has been developing since the mid-90s.  I'm impressed at the way Kerry has let the party lose, and let his surrogates swing mercilessly at Bush's weak points.  Consider what Candidate Gore's response would have been if Walter Mondale was out there ferociously attacking  the incumbent's "lack of respect for the rule of law".  Kerry's had a lot of moments-- both in his career and in this campaign-- where he could have easily backed down from a fight with the GOP, but he's mostly chosen not to.

  This also says something important about his receptiveness to the base.  Unlike Clinton, he seems to actually be interested in what rank and file Democrats want.  And he changes his actions accordingly-- perhaps not as quickly as some would like, but the changes do come.  They're incremental and effective.  We can only hope his Presidency will be as effective.

  by ChicagoDem on Mon Jul 26, 2004 at 04:41:47 AM PDT

  •  "Except for Vietnam"

    That's a very big exception. The Vietnam war polarized our country, killed 50,000 Americans and millions of Vietnemise, and nullified much of the good that Johnson was trying to do. We paid and are still paying the price for Vietnam with Nixon through George W. Bush.
    I hated Lyndon Johnson.

    by LEP on Mon Jul 26, 2004 at 05:21:38 AM PDT

    •  It's tough

      I know, it's a massive exception.  I hate cavalierly dismissing it like that.

      But look at Johnson from a traditionally liberal perspective.  The Civil Rights Act, Medicaid, Medicare, the precusor to HUD, vast expansions in the low-income housing budget.  I mean the Great Society was the greatest liberal legislative agenda since the New Deal.

      Johnson was the last liberal President this country had.  After him, the closest you could come was Carter.  And Carter, while he was far more of a pacifist, never had either the political skills or the inclination to try the type of liberal programs that Johnson did.

      I'll be a little bit more inflammatory here.  I think the vehemence of the liberal opposition to Vietnam was just a little bit shortsighted.  Vietnam was a terrible war, and a horrible mistake.  But I wonder if Nixon's rise and the ensuing 30-odd years of conservatism have been much better for the nation.

      by ChicagoDem on Mon Jul 26, 2004 at 05:32:19 AM PDT