New book on the Iran deal, features John Kerry"in-depth interview"

[karynnj]

3. I think that with his peers, he already did

He seemed to get a major award every other week or so last fall. With each, a peer, a respected statesman or head of state spoke of his committment, his talent and even (at least once) his unusual decency.

While happy seeing those awards, I was more taken by Wendy Sherman's account of him actually choking up when speaking of what the Iran deal meant to him and his unusual action of taking his lovely granddaughter with him when he signed the Paris Climate Accord for the US at the UN. Both suggest that he knew that these were his legacy. No matter what happens going forward, he knows that it was his persistance, hard work and skill that avoided a war that already would likely have started and jump started the world's most serious response to climate change.

Then, I saw the NYT editorial - I think in December - where they basically said that he was absolutely the essential person in getting both of these things done. Now, the President always gets credit for things done by his aadministration, so Obama will have these as his top two foreign policy accomplishments. I suspect that over time, the view of the NYT will also hold -- these would not have happened without John Kerry having been Secretary of State.

Over time, I suspect that his competence and his values will be accorded more credit than they were as the Obama administration ended.