As far as he’s concerned, John Kerry is neither a hero nor a superhero. He’s a man, with a private life, loving family and friends, and a job. It happens to be a job he’s dead serious about, but that is simply how he has chosen to live his life on this earth, all in a day’s work, nothing heroic about it.

A hero is not something self-ordained, but rather created by the admiration and regard of others and, while we do well to remember that he is also human, we can find inspiration and guidance in his example. John Kerry has earned this admiration throughout a lifetime of principle, sacrifice and service and he is a indeed a hero to many around the world.

A superhero is something else again: invincible, miraculous, Fearless in his pursuit of justice, he never gives up hope or loses sight of the welfare of those he seeks to protect. John Kerry has not attained his superhero powers by means of a spiderbite or an interplanetary mineral. He has earned his superpowers the old-fashioned way, through honor and a commitment to something exalted above individual humanity. That something is composed of many elements, but the most precious is his allegiance to his oath as a public servant and a member of the United States Senate.

When he travels abroad representing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee or comforts a grieving parent who has lost a son or daughter, fallen in the line of duty, when he speaks on the Senate floor to defend the Constitution or makes a speech encouraging young people to get involved in public service and politics, he is more than a heroic man, he becomes an emblem of and a standard-bearer for our vision of America itself. He is part of something large and sacred, a promise of truth and justice.

Holding a Senate seat is not enough to make John Kerry a superhero, it is his absolute commitment to the letter and spirit of his oath that gives him the power to achieve miracles. Against all odds, he fights for what is right, for the vision of the United States as a haven of possibility and hope and equality. No matter how far the current Administration has debased and degraded that shining vision, John Kerry keeps it in view and never gives up the fight to make it reality once more. It is this dedication and belief that make him unconquerable, this honor and compassion that make him our champion in the fight against evil and greed.