John Kerry May Rethink 2nd Presidential Run

I like John Kerry. I voted for him and I think he would have made a fine president. But this is not a forgiving era when it comes to gaffes that Republicans can exploit and I hope the time comes soon when we put behind such nonsense. Here's a story by Rick Klein of the Boston Globe:

Senator John F. Kerry's election-eve "botched joke" about the war in Iraq -- and the fierce denunciations his comments drew from fellow Democrats -- has led him to reevaluate whether to mount a run for the presidency in 2008 and has led him to delay an announcement about his decision, according to Kerry associates.

The Massachusetts Democrat is now leaning toward waiting until late spring before declaring his intentions, even as other candidates jump into the race and begin building organizing and fund-raising teams in early-primary states. Before the joke derailed his comeback, Kerry had signaled that he would decide whether to run by the end of January.

Kerry -- who had methodically resurrected his political standing after a tough loss to President Bush in 2004 -- was stunned by the swift, angry reaction to his Oct. 30 statement that underachieving students would end up "stuck in Iraq." Aides and friends say the senator was particularly stung by the fact that so many Democrats had joined Republicans in rebuking him.

I'm irritated with the Democrats who attacked Kerry. Kerry was being attacked in the media for three days for 20 seconds of a botched joke while the president has frequently gotten a free pass (sometimes by the same Democrats) for botching a war for over a 3 1/2 years. Kerry was easy to defend. Even a mild joke at Kerry's expense could have made the point that the focus should have been on Bush as the voters so eloquently expressed on Nov. 7th.

I admire Kerry but, having said what I said above, I believe he might be able to do more good in the Senate where he can bring all his skills to bear on holding Bush's feet to the fire for the remainder of his presidency. Our nation can't afford to drift for two more years; and if Bush won't mend his ways, we need a Congress that's paying close attention to business. There's no question in my mind that John Kerry still has important things to do; instead of running for president again, his place and his greatest value for now may be in the Senate.