It has not yet been two years since he left Washington, but John Kerry has written a new memoir reflecting on his years of military and public service and is, in his own words, 鈥渁s invigorated, as energized, as at any time鈥 in his life. At a John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum, moderated by Institute of Politics (IOP) Director Mark Gearan, the former U.S. secretary of state and five-term senator from Massachusetts spoke candidly on the lessons learned from both history and his role as the nation鈥檚 top diplomat, and took on the inevitable questions about his political future. Joining Gearan on stage to pose questions to Kerry were four fall 2018 IOP Resident Fellows: former Democratic National Committee CEO Amy Dacey, former Republican Congressman Joseph Heck, Bloomberg News鈥檚 Margaret Talev, and Brittany Packnett, vice president of national community alliances and engagement for Teach for America and co-founder of Campaign Zero.
On whether he is considering a run for president in 2020:
鈥淚鈥檓 not taking anything off the table. 鈥 But I haven鈥檛 been running around to the most obvious states, laying any groundwork or doing anything. 鈥 Am I going to think about it? Yes, I鈥檓 going to think about it 鈥 if you care about these things you have to think about it. 鈥 I am perfectly ready to embrace somebody that I think can win who wants to embrace all the issues I just talked about and understands them 鈥 but I don鈥檛 see the person yet that I鈥檓 prepared to say that about. 鈥 I don鈥檛 know if Joe [Biden] is going to run 鈥 he鈥檚 clearly qualified. ... I also like a guy [who鈥檚] been terrific on guns, he鈥檚 been terrific on climate change, he鈥檚 been terrific on inclusivity and other issues, and that鈥檚 Mike Bloomberg. He鈥檚 an adult. 鈥 I鈥檓 open. I鈥檓 looking, like all of you are.鈥
On the Iran nuclear deal:
鈥淸Iran] are living by the agreement. 鈥 China, Russia, Germany, France, and Britain all met with Iran to try to keep the deal alive. ... To me, that鈥檚 an affirmation of the strength of what we did. 鈥 And if at any time in the future [Iran] try to break out 鈥 we will know it immediately, we have the ability to have every military option available to us then that we have available to us today. So why, if you want to deal with the issue of their missiles, Hezbollah, Yemen, just pull out and put everything back on the table? It doesn鈥檛 make sense. 鈥 This was never built on trust. 鈥 You do this by not trusting and verifying. 鈥 We鈥檙e building up the relationship. Now what鈥檚 happened by pulling out of the deal, the very people who didn鈥檛 want to have a deal at all 鈥 have been empowered. Because what鈥檚 happened is the people who said, 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 trust America, you make a deal with them, they won鈥檛 keep it,鈥 Donald Trump has now reinforced that. 鈥 We don鈥檛 do regime change very well. That鈥檚 what this policy is actually about. It鈥檚 trying to economically squeeze Iran into complete submission so they鈥檒l come crying to the table. ... Not going to happen.鈥
On democratic participation and the mid-terms:
鈥淲e had more Americans vote than at any time in American history: 113 million. First time we鈥檝e ever been over 100 million. But guess what? The youth vote was still, with a 55 percent increase, only 32 or 33 percent. What is that about? And the overall vote was 49 percent. That is simply unacceptable. 鈥 I鈥檓 convinced there is a vast majority in America that shares the values, shares the vision, wants to have a multilateral engagement, wants to engage with other countries and other parts of the world, wants common sense applied to things that scientists tell us are happening, that want to live up to the values of our nation. I鈥檓 convinced of it. But they鈥檝e got to vote. And the best way we鈥檙e going to change that is to now build on what we did in this midterm and take it into 2020 in order to guarantee that we get back the possibilities of the future.鈥
On the divisive political atmosphere in the United States today:
鈥淵ou have to make meaningful issues, voting issues. If you don鈥檛 make them voting issues, you don鈥檛 get the change you want. 鈥 Writ large, our democracy right now is absolutely dysfunctional. It is a disgrace. And I say that of both parties.鈥
鈥淵ou cannot have a government and a democracy work without compromise. 鈥 We can鈥檛 function that way. We have lost the ability in our great country to ascertain the baseline of facts on which we are going to make decisions as a government. And if you don鈥檛 have a baseline of facts, you can鈥檛 begin to build the consensus you need to govern. 鈥 My colleague Daniel Patrick Moynihan, senator from New York, had a great saying: 鈥楨verybody is entitled to their own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.鈥欌
On the urgent need to address climate change:
鈥淐limate change is not something we don鈥檛 have a solution to. It鈥檚 not a lack of capacity. It鈥檚 a lack of political will. And the solution to climate change is energy policy. Today, solar is less expensive than coal. 鈥 Last year, three storms cost you and your parents $265 billion dollars. 鈥 Folks this is happening. ... We are currently living out by omission or commission a mutual suicide pact. I just say to all of you鈥2020, our democracy, everything I鈥檝e talked about tonight is solvable, by you. By being active 鈥 and by making sure that we organize to get above that 33 percent [voter turnout], up to 60, 70 percent. 鈥 Remember what Nelson Mandela said. He said, 鈥業t always seems impossible until it is done.鈥 Pretty simple. So, let鈥檚 get it done.鈥