Senator John Kerry Will Not Run in 2008

It was inevitable, but the moment I saw the news that Kerry probably won't be running, a wave of sadness hit me, partly because of what could have been in 2004, partly because it's not difficult to imagine how hard it was for Kerry to make his decision. Adam Nagourney of The New York Times has the story:

Senator John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who narrowly lost the presidency to George Bush in 2004, stepped away today from what he had described as an almost all-but-certain second bid for the White House, bowing to a Democratic Party that was clearly unreceptive to his return to the stage and that had turned its attention to new candidates.

Mr. Kerry, who is 63, will instead seek a fifth term as senator from Massachusetts, and will focus on organizing opposition to the war in Iraq, said a Democrat familiar with Mr. Kerry’s thinking who asked not to be identified until Mr. Kerry made the decision public himself.

Mr. Kerry had turned his attention to the 2008 presidential race almost from the moment he conceded defeat to Mr. Bush in November 2004, the end of what he described as a heartbreaking day in which exit polls had projected his victory was assured.

After being daunted in the 2004 race as being equivocal on the war in Iraq, he had emerged as one of his party’s leading opponents to the war, and had renounced his original support for the war resolution that caused him so many problems in the last election.

Presidents who don't perform well usually do not get a second term. George W. Bush will forever be the most failed two-term president in American history. When a slim majority of American voters decided to place more value on the abilities of George W. Bush instead of John Kerry, it was something I will never understand. I will continue to have enormous respect for Senator Kerry.