Kerry's the result of two things:
1) A short talent bench among the 50-65 year old members of the Democratic Party.
2) A stupidly compressed primary system which inadvertently let what might otherwise have been a short-term "Kerry boom" turn into his nomination.
Has the Democrats run their primaries over five months or so, like they did thirty years ago, John Edwards would probably have been the nominee. And, while I don't like John Edwards, at least he's not manifestly incapable of fulfilling the most basic duties of the Presidency like Kerry is.
The Democratic Party in recent years has developed a bad habit of nominating for the Presidency people who are obviously psychologically incapable of handling the strains of national command.
A completely irrelevant sidenote to the conversation, but I had to let you know you chose a great user name! Welcome to FR!