John Kerry Explains Why Obama is His Guy

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MICHEL MARTIN, host:

I'm Michel Martin. This is TELL ME MORE from NPR News.

Coming up, the endorsement game: who's endorsing whom and why. But first, we've been talking about the Michigan primary. The voting took place last night. We've mainly been talking about the Republican results, because Senator Hillary Clinton was the only major Democrat on the ballot. Party leaders won't give Michigan any delegates to their national convention to punish the state for moving its primary forward. But what may be a sign of trouble for Clinton, 44 percent of Michigan democrats voted uncommitted.

But now, the endorsement game. Former presidential candidate John Kerry made headlines last week when he came out for Senator Barack Obama. We wanted to know more.

So we invited Senator Kerry to talk to us. Senator, good to talk to you again.

Sen. JOHN KERRY (Democrat, Massachusetts): Glad to be with you.

MARTIN: Now, last week you took a position that may have surprised some people and endorsed Senator Barack Obama, not your former running mate, John Edwards. Not your colleague, Senator Hillary Clinton. You've had long political ties to both Clintons. Why Senator Obama?

Sen. KERRY: Because I believe he has the opportunity to bring the country together, to unite people, to send an extraordinary message to the rest of the world about the possibilities in the United States. And because I think he has the opportunity to be a transformational president, who could hopefully break the gridlock and end the kind of battles of the past, and change the dialogue.

MARTIN: What qualities do you think he has that would change the dialogue and break the gridlock, as you put it?

Sen. KERRY: Well, I think - first of all, he comes with a, I think, with a combined experience of the time he's been in the Senate, the legislator in Illinois, as well as the organizer in the streets of Chicago, as also a law professor, lecturer, a partner in law firms, civil rights lawyer. It's an interesting background that isn't mired in the battles that have consumed Washington, and therefore helps to create a generational shift, helps to bring younger people back to the table and give them a sense of the possibilities.

I think he will break some bad habits, and I think Washington has a way of getting it wrong recently. And because of his ability to probably be able to build a movement. In the great moments that I've seen in American politics, and particularly going back to the civil rights movement, environment, even to Ronald Reagan's presence in Washington, generally speaking, there was a sort of movement of people in a different direction that came at the grassroots level. And I believe that Barack Obama has the potential of being able to do that.

MARTIN: Now when I say that it would have been easy for you to stay out of this. You had your former running mate. You have two colleagues in the Senate, currently in the Senate running against each other. So was there a moment that made you decide to get off the sidelines? Or something particular that made you say I really need to take a stand here?

Sen. KERRY: No, there's not one particular moment. I think throughout my lifetime I've done that. You remember Dante's great refrain, that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of moral crisis, maintain their neutrality. I think we're in that kind of moment of demand, and I almost feel an obligation to speak out and say what I think is best. I admire Hillary Clinton enormously. I like her. I respect her. I think she has great qualities.

And John Edwards has the qualities that he brought that I selected when he ran. But as the Des Moines Register carefully stated, having endorsed John Edwards four years ago, they endorsed Hillary Clinton this year, because the times are different. The requirements are different. And my judgment about these different times and about this moment is not that Hillary can't be a terrific president, but that I think Barack Obama represents a greater opportunity to move to this new discussion, this new transformation, this new message about America, this moment of time where we can hopefully unite people and change the discussion.

MARTIN: But is inspiration more important than experience? What about experience?

Sen. KERRY: They're both important. Well, they're different experiences. I mean - and frankly, he's had as many years, if not more, as a legislator than Hillary Clinton or John Edwards. He spent eight years in the Illinois legislature, where he did things like bring - expanded health care to children and help change the death penalty and worked on education and a number of other issues. And so, I mean, in legislative experience, you measure people's different experiences of a lifetime.

You measure their judgment and character and what they bring to the table. I believe that graduating from Columbia and Harvard Law School, where he was the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review - no small thing -and then declining to go to Wall Street or some other big, high-paying law firm to go back and be an organizer in Chicago, and then stand up for civil rights. Those are all measurements of character and of judgment.

MARTIN: If you're just joining us, I'm Michel Martin from TELL ME MORE, and we're speaking with Senator John Kerry about his endorsement of Senator Barack Obama for president. You've mentioned some things about his demographic background that I want to talk about. I'd like to talk a little bit about electability and race, and you certainly have a unique perspective on this, having spent a year crisscrossing the country and making the case for your own candidacy. This is something you said this weekend on ABC's Sunday program, "This Week."

(Soundbite of TV show, "This Week")

Sen. KERRY: I was just in South Africa, and I picked up the newspaper one day. There was a big headline on this second page, Obama says the following. They have a huge issue there of credibility of their leadership and the issue of AIDS. I personally believe - having been 20 years, 24 years on the Foreign Relations Committee - that a Barack Obama can say things to African-American leaders that a white president just can't say.

Unidentified Man #1: But a lot of Democrats…

Sen. KERRY: And think there's a power in that.

MARTIN: Some argue that the converse of that is true, that perhaps a white president can say things to white leaders of other nations that an African-American cannot say. What do you say to that?

Sen. KERRY: I don't think so. I just don't believe that, because I don't think that's where the world is today. I think if the United States of America were to select Barack Obama as its president, it would have a powerful message all across the world about the American story, about our making real the words that we live by, that all men are created equal, that we have a constitution that enforces the law in equal ways and recognizes the Bill of Rights, that has finally made real the dream of Martin Luther King so beautifully expressed that we judge people not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

MARTIN: Do you think Americans are ready to do that?

Sen. KERRY: Yes, I do. I absolutely believe that, and I don't think race has been an issue in this campaign until these last couple of days, where a few different people have inserted it, but I don't think that's Barack Obama's desire nor anyone else's.

MARTIN: Mm-hmm.

Sen. KERRY: I mean, Barack Obama is a United States senator who is an American, who happens to also be African-American. Just like a lot of other senators are equally as American and they're equally a senator who happen to be whatever they are in terms of their background. I don't think most people in America today identify people that way. And that's part of why this is such a transformational moment. Because this is the moment where we can make that statement declaratively to the world, and what a statement that would be. And the impact of it in terms of our ability to bridge the divide to third world countries, the impact of it to have greater credibility in who we are and what we stand for, I think is enormous. And that's part of the reason why I made this judgment.

MARTIN: There's been some to-ing and fro-ing over who inserted race into this campaign. I mean, Senator Clinton got into a little bit of difficulty when some suggested she downplayed the contributions of Martin Luther King, Jr. relative to President Lyndon Johnson. And then earlier on a radio program, former President Bill Clinton said if anybody's injected race into this campaign, it's Senator Obama's campaign. And he - when - there were some utterances that refer to her as the Senator from Punjab. So who do you think is injecting race into this campaign?

Sen. KERRY: I would hope neither will, and I'm not going to get into that because I think it's bad for the campaign and it's bad for the country. My advice would be to both is to recognize the reality, which is everybody contributed to that. The fact is that those who went out there and stood on the bridges and, you know, marched into the schools, through those doorways, and -you know, Rosa Parks, who sat on that bus, and all of those folks who contributed, inspired a movement.

And the movement inspired people in political life to realize what was right or wrong. And I believe that that's what we need to create now in the country, is a movement towards reform in the Congress, the reform of our political system, holding politicians accountable. Again, coming back, I don't think that this should be about gender or race or any of those issues. It's about the future of our country and who can best inspire that movement and lead us, period.

MARTIN: Speaking of the future, your Senate colleague, Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, also recently endorsed Senator Obama. In doing so, she mentioned that her 18-year-old urged her to support the senator. Do you think that this is, in part, a generational issue here? That perhaps it's time for a changing of the guard?

Sen. KERRY: You know, there's always that kind of passing of the torch, if you recall John Kennedy's words. And it's important to bring young people to the table. I've had the privilege now of being a senator for 24 years, and I'm 64 years old, and I passionately believe in the decision that I've made. If Hillary Clinton wins and is the nominee, I will fight tooth and nail about, you know, deliver everything I can to help her win. But for the moment, it's my belief that perhaps there's some generational possibilities, but I hope not a divide. But it's fascinating that Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Tim Johnson of South Dakota and Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Governor Janet Napolitano of Arizona - you know, these are all people who have come together, representing different parts of the country and different states believing that Barack Obama has this moment and can be a unifier and can help even in those difficult so-called red states.

MARTIN: Can I just ask you that - just a question about the timing. Do you think being from Massachusetts and a Red Sox fan, perhaps if you had made your endorsement earlier, you might have put him over the edge in New Hampshire?

(Soundbite of laughter)

Sen. KERRY: I don't know. I, you know, I have a lot of friends up in New Hampshire, a lot of people working up there, and there were any number of reasons to wait until I thought it was the right moment. But I appreciate enormously your respecting the nation of Red Sox stint up to there, and New England Patriots, too, now, and perhaps we shouldn't mention it anymore because some people are getting pretty envious…

MARTIN: Uh-huh.

Sen. KERRY: …in this country. It's drawing its ire these days.

MARTIN: Uh-huh. Okay. Joining me by phone from Massachusetts is Senator John Kerry.

Thank you, senator, for taking some time to talk with us. We hope you'll check in with us again.

Sen. KERRY: Thank you.

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