There's a wonderful moment in a Seinfeld episode where Jerry Seinfeld goes into a menswear store where he'd recently purchased a jacket - and in a fit of pique against a salesman who rubbed him the wrong way -- tries to return the jacket on the grounds of "spite".
Jerry: "Excuse me I'd like to return this jacket."
Store assistant: "Certainly. May I ask why?"
Jerry: "For spite"
Store assistant: "Spite?"Jerry: "That's right. I don't care for the salesman that sold it to me..."
So it is with John Kerry's supposed "endorsement" of Barack Obama.
Is is an endorsement?
Or is he simply trying to find a way to spite the two senators who had the courage to critique this very proud man?
John Edwards has been quite public in his criticism of Kerry's stupidity and timidity in not responding to the 2004 Swift Boat attacks until way, way too late. Kerry's screw-up likely cost the Democrats the White House.
Hillary Clinton immediately saw how Kerry's botched joke (and the way that Bush was intentionally mis-characterizing it) a few days before the November 2006 mid-terms was yet another screw-up likely to cost the Democrats electoral success. She had the courage to speak out immediately: "What Senator Kerry said was inappropriate and I believe we can't let it divert us from looking at the issues that are at stake in our country."
Evidently Kerry has remembered these public chidings. In a rigorous self-examination he has taken personal inventory -- and decided to thank his colleagues for putting the party in front of his pride. By endorsing Barack Obama.
For spite.
It's not an endorsement. It's an En-Spite-Ment.
Kerry: "Excuse me I'd like to endorse this candidate."
Democratic voter: "Certainly. May I ask why?"
Kerry: "For spite"
Democratic voter: "Spite?"
Kerry: "That's right. I don't care for the two senators that 'told' it to me..."
And Barack Obama's position on Kerry's direly delayed response to being Swift-Boated in 2004 -- and on his dangerously clumsy gaffe right before the 2006 elections?
On both occasions he was "present"...