BOSTON, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., eyeing the presidency, said Monday the United States needs a foreign policy that makes friends and not just flexes its muscles.
Kerry met with reporters a day after announcing he is forming a presidential exploration committee.
"I believe we have a stronger and better hand to play for this nation" than the Bush administration has regarding Iraq and foreign policy, the 58-year-old decorated Vietnam War veteran said.
"I think we can make our citizens more secure, I think we need a new foreign policy that reaches out to people and makes friends, not just flexes our muscles," Kerry said.
"We need a presidency that sees the problems not down the road but today and responds immediately to those needs," said Kerry, who was accompanied by his wife, Teresa Heinz.
Kerry plans to travel to key political states over the next several weeks, starting Tuesday with Ohio, considered a key swing state in presidential politics. He has scheduled a major speech in Cleveland attacking President Bush's economic policies.
On Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" show, Kerry said, "On almost every issue facing the country, I believe there is a better choice for this nation."
He announced he was beginning the process of organizing a national presidential campaign for the 2004 elections, using the exploratory committee to pay for campaign expenses such as staffing, consultants, polling and raising funds.
"It's an enormous step, and not one I take lightly," Kerry said on the NBC show, "but it's one that I'm excited about."
Kerry, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is expected to make a formal announcement sometime in the spring.
He easily won re-election to a fourth term in November against token third-party opposition. He won about 80 percent of the vote in a race in which Republicans did not field a candidate.
Kerry, who won the Silver and Bronze stars and was awarded three Purple Hearts in Vietnam, faces the challenge of convincing voters that he is not just another Massachusetts liberal in the mode of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and former Gov. Michael Dukakis.
On taxes, Kerry said he would delay the remainder of Bush's $1.3 trillion, 10-year-tax cut, replacing it with a refundable cut in the payroll tax to help lower and middle-income Americans.
"People are sick and tired of a tax system that they know favors people who can play the loopholes and play the games," he said.
The only other Democrat so far to announce intentions to run for president is Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.
Other potential rivals for the Democratic nomination include former Vice President Al Gore, outgoing House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri, Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, and Sens. John Edwards of North Carolina and Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut.
Kerry has said he considers Gore the front runner.
Kerry said he would give up his presidential bid if it turns out he isn't getting enough support.
