Secretary of State John Kerry
"Set the world aflame with your service." Secretary of State John Kerry, Boston, MA, May 19, 2014
The unfortunate imagery of a world aflame, in Secretary Kerry's metaphorical exhortation to the graduates of Boston College, during today's commencement, provides a sharp reminder of one reason John Kerry never became U.S. President. Notwithstanding this accomplished American Statesman's many other undeniable gifts and virtues, he isn't worth a small brown rock as a pubic speaker.
To be fair, I didn't attend the speech. Only the reporting at Boston.com today informs these remarks.
The speech was a journeyman effort, at best. Sec. Kerry certainly seems to have met his apparent goal of hammering home his theme that the graduates ought to go out into the World in service to solving the problems of Mankind because that is an ideal of the Jesuits who educated them. But that is a sentence, not a commencement speech, and Secretary Kerry probably did the idea no favors, with the kids, by banging it again and again like blacksmith shaping a horseshoe. I didn't even get his climate change joke and the vapid characterization of the problem of conflict, using pop culture references, made sense only as dadaist performance art. OK. That might be a little too cold.
Anyway, it sure didn't seem like much of a speech, pretty much like every other speech that I can't remember him giving. If I were a BC Mom or Dad, sitting on my extremely slim wallet, I might have been disappointed in the speech. They just sent their kid to a school that rates a sitting Secretary of State, someone in succession for the Presidency, for commencement. The expectations must of have been high. Still, whatever the disappointment, I think I can trump that with the golf pro who covered the commencement speech for my older daughter's graduation. I can't even remember that guy's name.
But this is about John Kerry. It makes me sad. I like him a lot, because of a lot of little things about him. But he can't explain himself, or his sometimes very good thoughts and ideas, worth a hoot. He couldn't, or wouldn't, and, at the very least, didn't do it in response to the Swift Boat attacks in 2004; he didn't do it very well in Boston, today, either. One can only wonder whether John Kerry might have fared differently as a Presidential contender if he truly had a gift for expression to go with his critical thinking, questioning mind and personal commitment to service.