John Kerry: It's All About Me

John Kerry cannot campaign for Obama without making himself the issue.

Sen. John F. Kerry is attending to some unfinished business.

Four years ago, his bid to topple President Bush fell short, damaged by a series of Texas broadsides that became known as the Swift boat attacks. His demise spawned a term that came to signify a political low blow. Now Kerry has returned to the campaign trail, this time as a spirited foot soldier for Sen. Barack Obama, the Illinois Democrat who aims to succeed where Kerry did not.

Carrying his own overnight bag and following another candidate's script, Kerry jetted to small gatherings around Texas this weekend, telling audiences that Obama, 18 years his junior and barely schooled in Washington's ways, could lead a "transformational presidency." He said the way Obama thinks about politics and foreign policy is uplifting.

"You read all the tea leaves. You can understand the dynamics," Kerry told an audience in Brownsville on Saturday. "I believe Barack Obama has this moment of history to be able to change these politics and take the negative off, to take the politics of destruction away. He isn't seeking to perfect Swift-boating, he's seeking to end it. This is a man who understands we've got to talk to each other.

Never mind that Kerry was ultimately forced to admit that most of what the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth said about him was true and that they produced documentary evidence for what he did not admit to.