John Kerry

1. First, as others in this thread have noted, the NYT has always been weird about JK, to the point of sometimes-inexcusable journalistic malpractice. Their reporting on his presidential campaign was often infuriating; and don't get me started on oped writers like Gail Collins
2. Second, this is not reporting, but high-level (or, rather low-level) gossip, passed on to the "reporter" (and I use the term loosely) , I suspect, by someone on (or near to people on ) the Obama/White House staff who has a highly personal Agenda, and is trying to promote that agenda by passing on non-information to lazy reporters from the NYT.
3. Third, the agenda of my hypothesized "source" seems to me self-interested; it's about trying to influence the President in a self-interested and the most tacky possible way. Certainly, neither the story nor the inferred agenda behind it can be said to help either the President's decision-making process, nor does it help his reputation -- since the story, as "reported" (again , I use the term loosely) in the NYT, gives a whiff of a suggestion of the President as dithering.
I find myself disliking both the reporter and the hypothesized (by me) "source".

A big BLEAH to both of them.