John Kerry endorses Obama.

Well, this is interesting.

John Kerry has endorsed Barack Obama.

After Wes Clark endorsed Hillary (and yes, I am still highly vexed by that), I thought that others--Kerry among them--would jump on the bandwagon. I turned out to be wrong about Kerry, and after reading the article linked above, I should have reached a different conclusion several months ago.

While Kerry has been close to Clinton's husband, the former president, he was incensed in 2006 when she chided him after Kerry suggested that people who don't go to school "get stuck in Iraq." Aides said Kerry meant to jab at Bush and say "get us stuck in Iraq," and that he didn't appreciate Clinton piling onto the criticism he was already getting for the remark.

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Kerry himself had considered running for president in 2008, but that plan fizzled with the botched remark. For many Democrats, his words revived bitter memories of his missteps in 2004, when he lost to Bush.

While I totally raked Kerry over the coals for his botched joke, I also said that it was taken out of context and that there is no way Kerry intended to insult our troops. So why would Hillary, a fellow Democrat, join the dog pile on Kerry? That's simple. It was a way to take out a potential opponent for this Presidential campaign. It was very understandable why other Democrats who were in tight election races piled on, but I don't think Hillary was facing any real challenge in her Senate campaign. Then again, given my very harsh criticism of Kerry over this incident, I might not be in a position to question Hillary's motives--this time. Still, the fact remains that she did chide Kerry and he did not appreciate it.

And then I should have factored in this tidbit:

Since announcing a year ago he would not make the run, Kerry has prodded Democrats to take a stronger anti-war stance, pushing for troop withdrawal deadlines.

Hillary, of course, has not taken an anti-war stance (until very recently--how convenient) in the past.

And here's something I find very interesting.

Kerry should be able to provide some organizational and fundraising muscle to Obama.

Since losing the 2004 race, Kerry has kept a national network of supporters intact. He has an e-mail network of 3 million supporters, according to aides. He also has traveled extensively raising millions of dollars for Democratic candidates nationwide.

John Kerry does still have some clout. What I find interesting that while I still believe he was the beneficiary of the established power elite in the Democratic Party four years ago, it now seems like he is going against the power elite.

Very interesting...