Is Great Satan's Secretary of State noth more than a big goob on clueless mission for an admittedly By Stander in Chief Pres?
Does Great Satan stand for anything at all?
Do we have a view about, say, slavery, or child prostitution, or the stoning of minorities?
Sec Kerry has one thing going for him - consistency. In both Egypt and in Saudi Arabia, he abandoned any defense of American political and social principles in order to curry favor with the folks with whom he was speaking.
Nothing good ever comes of such a stance: we look weak to the very officials to whom we are trying to look strong, and walk away from the courageous individuals in those countries struggling for human rights, for women’s rights in particular, and for political freedom.
Ouch!
As for Kerry’s nine-month performance review, here goes: he often seems unsure and distracted, projecting a sense that he might prefer to be anywhere else than wherever he is. In addition, he’s displayed a policy-crippling lack of information, remarkably little poise, and strikingly bad word choice, while regularly voicing surprising new positions on old issues. The logical conclusion might be to call for his instant resignation before more damage is done.
In his nine months as secretary of state, Kerry, the man, has shown a genuine capacity for mediocrity and an almost tragicomic haplessness. But blaming him would be like shouting at the waiter because your steak is undercooked.
Whatever his failings, John Kerry is only a symptom of Washington’s lack of a coherent foreign policy or sense of mission. Since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. has been adrift, as big and dangerous as an iceberg but something closer to the Titanic. President Bush, the father, and President Clinton, the husband, had at least some sense of when not to overdo it. They kept their foreign interventions to relatively neat packages, perhaps recognizing that they had ever less idea what the script was anymore.
Increasingly, the world is acknowledging America’s Kerry-style clunkiness and just bypassing the U.S. Britain said no to war in Syria. Russia took over big-box diplomacy. China assumed the pivot role in Asia in every way except militarily. (They're working on it.) The Brazilian president simply snubbed 44, canceling a state visit over Snowden's NSA revelations. Tiny Ecuador continues to raise a middle finger to Washington over the Assange case.
These days, one can almost imagine John Kerry as the wallflower of some near-future international conference, hoping someone – anyone -- will invite him to dance.
Pic - "Sec Kerry's Remarks"
