John Kerry isnt going quietly into the night

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2016/12/01/john-kerry-isn-going-quietly-into-night/7dtkQ0Ws5dJSMbTdJVVNfL/story.html?event=event25

John Kerry isn’t going quietly into the night

By Indira A.R. Lakshmanan December 01, 2016


When John Kerry steps down as secretary of state, it will be with the knowledge that President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to undo with the stroke of his pen nearly every accord Kerry labored over for four years and logged 1.3 million miles to achieve: climate change, trade, Iran’s nuclear deal, restored ties with Cuba, sanctions on Russia, and more.

Their fate depends on whom the president-elect chooses to replace Kerry and whether Trump makes good on his rhetoric. But Kerry, who has done time in the loyal opposition before, says he isn’t giving up. Having traveled a few hundred thousand miles with him during his time as secretary, I can attest that Kerry at 72 has more energy than most people decades younger. He’s not saying if he’ll work with a global organization, a university, or the private sector, but whatever he does, he’ll fight for what was — before Trump — seven decades of largely bipartisan support for US leadership in global security and economics.

“We’re going to have one hell of a debate over the course of the next few years . . . and I can promise you this . . . I am not going to go quietly into the night,’’ Kerry declared to raucous applause from the Women’s Foreign Policy Group, which gathered in Washington Tuesday for what was billed as a valedictory address. What they got instead was a cri de coeur not to toss hard-fought deals in the dustbin.

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Kerry also stressed the importance of the United States contributing to a better world, citing the long-term payoff our postwar rebuilding efforts in Europe and Japan had in fostering strong allies, and more recent efforts like funding education for girls in Afghanistan. The US isn’t a poor nation, Kerry said, and shouldn’t act like one by cutting the mere 1 percent of the budget that goes to foreign aid.

But he saved his most passionate defense for climate accords like the Paris deal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. That’s not surprising: My first interview with Kerry, 19 years ago, was at climate talks in Kyoto, Japan, when he was already deeply concerned about the threat to the planet.

His arguments are unlikely to get traction with Trump, who disdains nation-building and promotes a narrow, transactional view of US interests. But you can’t fault Kerry for taking Dylan Thomas’s advice to “not go gentle into that good night.”