Rice redux: The Washington Post reports today that Susan Rice, current US ambassador to the United Nations and onetime contender for Secretary of State, is “far and away the frontrunner” to become the next National Security Advisor. This marks a reversal of fortunes for Rice, who withdrew her name from consideration for Secretary of State after several Republicans pledged to block her nomination. The NSA post, however, doesn’t require Senate confirmation, and Rice is apparently still in high standing with the Obama Administration. The National Security Advisor is an extraordinarily powerful position, by the way; they personally advise the president on and play an enormous role in shaping foreign policy, yet unlike Secretary of State, they don’t have to consider or deal with an entire department’s bureaucracy when crafting that advice (Photo: AP). source
If nominated, I am now convinced that the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive and costly – to you and to our most pressing national and international priorities.Susan Rice • In her letter to President Obama, acquired by NBC News, explaining why she will no longer stay in the running for Secretary of State. “That trade-off is simply not worth it to our country…Therefore, I respectfully request that you no longer consider my candidacy at this time,” she continues. Partisan politics suck.
BREAKING: Susan Rice says she is withdrawing her name from consideration for Secretary of State
That’s no fun.
If Senator McCain and Senator Graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me. And I’m happy to have that discussion with them. But for them to go after the U.N. Ambassador, who had nothing to do with Benghazi, and was simply making a presentation based on intelligence that she had received, and to besmirch her reputation is outrageous.President Obama at his first press conference today. This was in response to McCain and Graham pledging to block Susan Rice’s nomination if Obama taps her for Secretary of State. source
In the immediate aftermath, there was information that led us to assess that the attack began spontaneously following protests earlier that day at our embassy in Cairo…As we learned more about the attack, we revised our initial assessment to reflect new information indicating that it was a deliberate and organized terrorist attack carried out by extremists.Director of National Intelligence James Clapper re: the attack on the US consulate in Libya. Shortly after the incident, Obama’s UN ambassador Susan Rice said that the violence was “initially a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired hours before in Cairo.” In his statement, released yesterday, Clapper claims that the intelligence community’s “understanding of the event continues to evolve,” and while the official story is now that the attack was planned, “it remains unclear if any group or person exercised overall command and control of the attack, and if extremist group leaders directed their members to participate.” source
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