On March 14 1969 25-year-old Bob Kerrey led his team of Navy SEALs up a 350-foot sheer cliff in Vietnam to a position above the ledge on which the enemy was located. A fierce battle ensued and a grenade shattered Kerreys right leg which subsequently had to be amputated below the knee. Fighting to remain conscious despite his injuries Kerrey continued to direct his unit to victory. He was sited for gallantry above and beyond the call of duty and decorated with our nations highest military award the Medal of Honor.
Today at age 68 Bob Kerrey seems to have lost a great deal of that courage. After four years as governor of Nebraska twelve years in the United States Senate a 1992 presidential bid and service on the 9/11 Commission one would think he would have little to fear. But over the past month Kerrey has shown Nebraskans that he is conniving calculating and very afraid indeed.
With the retirement of Senator Ben Nelson whose career was all but destroyed by his deciding vote for Obamacare Nebraska Democrats were in a panic. Even their top former officeholders were afraid to challenge two well-known Republicans who have been seeking the senate seat for more than a year Attorney General Jon Bruning and State Treasurer Don Stenberg one of whom is certain to be chosen as the GOPs nominee in the May Primary.
So the Dems turned in desperation to an old familiar name Bob Kerrey. At first Kerrey declined to return to politics. Family considerations he demurred. That was in early February. Later in the month after others had made plans based on his promise not to run Cosmic Bob (as he became known early in his political career) changed his mind again.
Or did he?
It should be understood that by choice Bob Kerrey is no longer a Nebraskan. When he left the senate in 2001 he had the choice to remain in his home state or go elsewhere to retire. He chose the most liberal place he could find: Greenwich Village where he moved with his second wife to start a new family and a new life as president of the New School one of the most left-wing colleges in the country.
Kerrey has vowed that his ten-year-old son will never darken the door of any school in Nebraska. In fact he has made it clear that his family will remain in New York City until after the election then they will join him in Washington. Obviously he does not deem it necessary to actually live in his abandoned home state in order to represent it in the U.S Senate.
After declaring his intention not to run Kerrey pledged his support to the only Democrat willing to put his name on the ballot Chuck Hassebrook who gave up a reelection bid to the University of Nebraska Board of Regents to seek the senate seat. When word of Kerreys possible change of heart reached him Hassebrook stated for the record that he knew Bob Kerrey to be a man of integrity a man of his word who would never do such a thing.
Apparently Chuck Hassebrook doesnt know Bob Kerrey as well as he thought he did.
But the aspect of all this that smells as bad as Ben Nelsons Cornhusker Kickback is the timing of it all. In Nebraska incumbent officeholders must file for any elected position by February 15th. Non-incumbents have until March 1st to make their official intentions known. Kerrey announced his intentions not to run well before the middle of February and then changed his mind well after that all-important date.
This put Hassebrook in an impossibly awkward position. But more importantly it undercut the one potential Republican candidate who surely would have trounced Kerrey in November Nebraskas enormously popular Governor Dave Heineman who was being wooed by national GOP officials to get into the race. Heineman is the man who in the 2006 gubernatorial primary defeated a Nebraska icon Tom Osborne the legendary former football coach and three-term congressman. Odds are he could have beaten Cosmic Bob. But now well never know will we?
It appears that Bob Kerrey is not nearly as fearless as he once was.
On March 14 1969 25-year-old Bob Kerrey led his team of Navy SEALs up a 350-foot sheer cliff in Vietnam to a position above the ledge on which the enemy was located. A fierce battle ensued and a grenade shattered Kerreys right leg which subsequently had to be amputated below the knee. Fighting to remain conscious despite his injuries Kerrey continued to direct his unit to victory. He was sited for gallantry above and beyond the call of duty and decorated with our nations highest military award the Medal of Honor.
Today at age 68 Bob Kerrey seems to have lost a great deal of that courage. After four years as governor of Nebraska twelve years in the United States Senate a 1992 presidential bid and service on the 9/11 Commission one would think he would have little to fear. But over the past month Kerrey has shown Nebraskans that he is conniving calculating and very afraid indeed.
With the retirement of Senator Ben Nelson whose career was all but destroyed by his deciding vote for Obamacare Nebraska Democrats were in a panic. Even their top former officeholders were afraid to challenge two well-known Republicans who have been seeking the senate seat for more than a year Attorney General Jon Bruning and State Treasurer Don Stenberg one of whom is certain to be chosen as the GOPs nominee in the May Primary.
So the Dems turned in desperation to an old familiar name Bob Kerrey. At first Kerrey declined to return to politics. Family considerations he demurred. That was in early February. Later in the month after others had made plans based on his promise not to run Cosmic Bob (as he became known early in his political career) changed his mind again.
Or did he?
It should be understood that by choice Bob Kerrey is no longer a Nebraskan. When he left the senate in 2001 he had the choice to remain in his home state or go elsewhere to retire. He chose the most liberal place he could find: Greenwich Village where he moved with his second wife to start a new family and a new life as president of the New School one of the most left-wing colleges in the country.
Kerrey has vowed that his ten-year-old son will never darken the door of any school in Nebraska. In fact he has made it clear that his family will remain in New York City until after the election then they will join him in Washington. Obviously he does not deem it necessary to actually live in his abandoned home state in order to represent it in the U.S Senate.
After declaring his intention not to run Kerrey pledged his support to the only Democrat willing to put his name on the ballot Chuck Hassebrook who gave up a reelection bid to the University of Nebraska Board of Regents to seek the senate seat. When word of Kerreys possible change of heart reached him Hassebrook stated for the record that he knew Bob Kerrey to be a man of integrity a man of his word who would never do such a thing.
Apparently Chuck Hassebrook doesnt know Bob Kerrey as well as he thought he did.
But the aspect of all this that smells as bad as Ben Nelsons Cornhusker Kickback is the timing of it all. In Nebraska incumbent officeholders must file for any elected position by February 15th. Non-incumbents have until March 1st to make their official intentions known. Kerrey announced his intentions not to run well before the middle of February and then changed his mind well after that all-important date.
This put Hassebrook in an impossibly awkward position. But more importantly it undercut the one potential Republican candidate who surely would have trounced Kerrey in November Nebraskas enormously popular Governor Dave Heineman who was being wooed by national GOP officials to get into the race. Heineman is the man who in the 2006 gubernatorial primary defeated a Nebraska icon Tom Osborne the legendary former football coach and three-term congressman. Odds are he could have beaten Cosmic Bob. But now well never know will we?
It appears that Bob Kerrey is not nearly as fearless as he once was.
