Obama nominates Kerry for State post

President Barack Obama has picked Sen. John Kerry for secretary of state, hailing him as an extraordinary lawmaker who has played a central part in every major foreign policy debate of the past 30 years.

Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and decorated Vietnam veteran, would replace Hillary Rodham Clinton if he's confirmed by his fellow senators.

"Today, I'm looking ahead to my second term, and I'm very proud to announce my choice for America's next secretary of state, John Kerry," Obama said. The president added: "Over the years, John has earned the respect and confidence of leaders around the world. He is not going to need a lot of on-the-job training."

Kerry's path to the nomination cleared last week when another candidate -- United Nations ambassador Susan Rice -- announced she would not pursue the post. Kerry, who turned 69 this month, has had a lifelong involvement in foreign issues. The son of a foreign service officer, Kerry fought in Vietnam and later became a leader of a veterans group that opposed the war.

Elected lieutenant governor of Massachusetts in 1982, Kerry won his first U.S. Senate race two years later and is currently in his fifth term. He secured the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 2004 but lost the general election to incumbent President George W. Bush. During his Senate years, Kerry opposed U.S. assistance to Nicaraguan rebels during the 1980s and criticized the Iraq war during his 2004 presidential bid against Bush.

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Gingrich: Romney Speaks French, Just like John Kerry (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | Newt Gingrich is attacking Mitt Romney for speaking French in a new ad. However the Daily Caller is suggesting that this is a case of the pot calling the kettle black, claiming that Gingrich is fluent in French as well.

The accusation comes at the end of the ad, in which Romney is compared to two other Massachusetts pols, Michael Dukakis and John Kerry, who tried to run for president and failed. It has Kerry publically speaking French and then Romney doing the same thing. Hence Romney equals Kerry in foreign language fluency.

The suggestion is made that Gingrich must be a French-speaker as well, due to the fact that his doctorial dissertation on education in the Belgium Congo cites numerous French language documents. Gingrich also interviewed a number of people in Belgium. French is one of the major languages in that country.

One supposes that Gingrich could have employed a translator, thus escaping the taint of being fluent in the French language. One wonders what the fuss is about, however.

To be sure Kerry seemed to speak French as a means to buttress his haughty, aristocratic mien, setting himself up as someone who suffered from Paris envy and not someone in touch with ordinary Americans. That included Cajun people from Louisiana who speak a kind of French. There is no evidence, however, that Romney has tried to put on airs just because he can parlez vous.

It is not a necessary requirement that a president of the United States be multi lingual; he would have plenty of people who can make him understood to President Sarkozy, for example. However it would be intriguing to have a president, like Jon Huntsman, who can speak Mandarin, the main language of China. Farsi and Arabic might also be useful.

Indeed, there has been more than one multi-lingual president of the United States. According to the Monticello website, President Jefferson could speak Latin, Greek, French, Italian, Spanish and, of course, English. His acumen in foreign languages seems not to have hurt his ability to be president.

Gingrich is -- once again -- over reaching in his zeal to cut up Romney.

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Libya a Litmus Test for Leadership, as Proved by Kerry, McCain (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | According to Politico, senators John Kerry and John McCain have joined forces to put an end to partisan bickering over Libya and move forward with a plan that would allow the president to continue U.S. involvement for one year with the proviso that ground forces stay out of the conflict. This is a departure from recent congressional rhetoric that threatened political retribution and may result in changing the tone in Washington in regard to U.S. involvement in Libya. The debate will likely continue ad nauseam in the coming days as we get into specifics about eliminating Gadhafi and whether it is wise to give a year's worth of authorization for action in such a tiny country or limit a commander-in-chief from utilizing ground troops to complete a mission.

The real story, though, is that while some congressmen (including some who have campaigned or are campaigning to become president) played politics, two men of the strong caliber required to gain the nomination of their parties for the presidency stood up (in the face of overwhelming support for theatrics) and decided to lead.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said to Piers Morgan, in a recent interview, that he had not yet seen anything special from any of the G.O.P candidates that told him who should win the nomination. More than likely, he's looking for something like that. In fact, it is likely what we are all waiting for in the midst of the theatrical but shallow field of Republican candidates for president.

While Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul was teaming up with former presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich to sue the President over Libya, playing politics without deference to the very real situation on the ground or the status of the troops whose funding Kucinich threatened to cut off, it took two men who many consider "has-beens" to show the difference between men who think themselves ready to lead and men who simply lead.

Two men stood together Tuesday and showed up an entire field of presidential hopefuls. Two men of class and accomplishment put politics aside to lead on Libya, not by way of looking for a job, but by way of doing the one they already have. The Republican candidates could learn a thing or two from two men who have been there... whether they won the presidency or not.

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Kerry praises Obama plan for Afghanistan (AP)

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kerry is praising President Barack Obama's plan to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, saying it will allow Afghans to "make their own choices about their own future."

Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CBS' "Early Show" on Thursday that the plan "will change the political calculation of everybody on the ground."

Obama said Wednesday that 10,000 U.S. troops will come home from Afghanistan by the end of this year, and a total of 33,000 troops will be withdrawn by next summer.

Kerry says Obama's 2009 troop surge, which sent 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, "put the Taliban on its heels." The Massachusetts Democrat says the U.S. now needs "considerably fewer troops" there to prevent the Taliban from regaining control.

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