As I've often said on this blog, a shocking number of life's questions aren't choices between good and bad but rather between bad and worse.   Elections are perhaps the capstone example.  

One needn't like a given candidate so much as recognize that the alternative is worse in some important way.  And when it came to John Kerry, that issue was the prospect that in the increasingly contentious & high stakes world of international affairs, he'd take the easy, high PR value road out of a difficult situation.

At least when it comes to North Korea, he confirms this suspicion wonderfully -

John Kerry: [Multiparty talks with North Korea have] been going on for five years, Mr. Ambassador.

John Bolton: It's the nature of multilateral negotiations, Senator.

John Kerry: Why not engage in a bilateral one and get the job done? That's what the Clinton Administration did.

John Bolton: And, very poorly since the North Koreans violated the agreed framework almost from the time it was signed.

Rarely have 4 lines of dialog been so revealing.