John Kerry is thinking about running for president again. After all, he’s only 74 and still fits in quite well age-wise with the current Democratic crop of presidential front-runners! But Kerry has some explaining to do about his tenure as Secretary of State. His response this morning in an interview on CBS’s “Face The Nation”? Throw former President Obama under the bus.

U.S. "paid a price" for not enforcing then-President Obama's red line in Syria, former Secretary of State John Kerry says https://t.co/gYgKF6YPsW pic.twitter.com/23XnYYr1FZ

— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 2, 2018

Former Secretary of State John Kerry says he was unable to persuade then-President Barack Obama that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “needed to be taught a lesson” for violating ceasefires and using chemical weapons on his own people during Kerry’s time in office, telling “Face the Nation” that the U.S. ultimately “paid a price” for inaction.

“We paid a price for the way it played out without the red line being enforced by the bombing,” said Kerry, referring to Mr. Obama’s warning in 2012 that use of chemical weapons would prompt a military response by the U.S., a threat that was not enforced a year later. Kerry explained his thinking at the time.

“I put several ideas on the table. The president was not persuaded by my argument. I believed that we had several options we could have done at very low risk to be able to make it clear to Assad that when we had a ceasefire and when he said he was going to live by it, he had to live by it. And I thought we should have done that,” Kerry said.

While he avoided explicitly calling out Mr. Obama as being “risk-averse” to intervening in the Syrian civil war, Kerry said the former president “had an attitude about Syria and a judgment about Syria. And he had a feeling about where that might take him if he made some of the decisions that I and others proffered.”

John Kerry is promoting his new book, Every Day Is Extra (published by Simon & Schuster, which is part of CBS, which is why he most likely ended up on CBS doing this interview), which is being released this coming Tuesday. He knows that in order to even think about running for president again, he has to clean up and explain his obvious foreign policy failures. Syria is completely owned by Team Obama.

Kerry said he’s proud that he “never stopped trying” to bring stability to Syria.

“Even when it was tough, even when it looked bleak, I don’t regret putting, you know, the idea on the table and I think it was a terrific outcome in the sense that we got all the declared weapons out of there,” Kerry said, referring to a deal brokered by Russia in 2013 to remove Syria’s chemical weapons and avert a U.S. strike.

The key term there is “declared weapons.” Syria still has chemical weapons, and has used them.

We along with 8 other members have called for an emergency Security Council mtg tomorrow in reference to the horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians in Syria. This is becoming all too common. Strong action is needed. pic.twitter.com/Vt3L5fjVla

— Nikki Haley (@nikkihaley) April 8, 2018

In John Kerry’s world, this was a “terrific outcome.”

And he is serious about that presidential run.

John Kerry won't rule out 2020 White House run https://t.co/fqc113LJL8 pic.twitter.com/WCJMY6yKt4

— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 1, 2018

Because when the Democrats are looking for a candidate that sparks excitement among the rank-and-file and has a charismatic personality, they would naturally turn to John Kerry, human Valium pill. Even Democrats aren’t thrilled with this idea.

Oh please. This must be aa joke. Can we please have a candidate under 60

— Bill Berg (@GamlinLakeID) September 1, 2018

Soooo old… pic.twitter.com/Qjw33hQqjJ

— Security Guy (@RandomLPGuy) September 1, 2018

https://twitter.com/JetCityMichael/status/1035925721384771585

John. No.

John.

JOHN.

Buddy.

No.

Still love ya.

But, like, no. You're a valium sandwich with a nyquil chaser.

— Jeff Enjoys Nerd Stuff (@infocorn) September 2, 2018

Oh God No. And I'm a Democrat.

— Easily Confused (@chaos_has_won) September 1, 2018

The Democrats couldn’t give the GOP a better gift than John Kerry, 2020 presidential nominee.

Featured image: CBS News via screenshot