The Susan Rice Nomination... another failing grade for Washington...
Finally a
grownup has emerged in Washington.
Too bad she isn’t part of Congress and as such, is unable to help us
avoid the fast approaching fiscal cliff.
No, the person I am talking about is not some powerful Senator or
Congressman.
The person I
am talking about is UN Ambassador Susan Rice.
Susan Rice
for those of you who don’t live for politics as a hobby, was President Obama’s
first choice to become Secretary of State when Hillary Clinton steps down in a
few weeks.
I say was
because yesterday Susan Rice stepped up and did what a diplomat should do. She analyzed the situation before her
and made a decision that was based on what she thought was in the best
interests of the United States.
She took her
name out of the running for the position, saying her nomination would lead to a
battle royale in the politics of the Senate, where she must be confirmed, and
in so doing, proved that she is clearly a better person than either President
Barack Obama or the John McCain cabal that was clearly out to get her.
Here’s the back-story.
On Tuesday,
September 11, one of our diplomatic outposts, in Libya, was attacked by what we now know
to be terrorists. In the attack
and the aftermath, 4 Americans were tragically killed.
On the
following Sunday, five days later, UN Ambassador Susan Rice went on national
television and told the American people what the intelligence community
believed was correct about the attack at that time.
It turns
out, the information she was given, and that she repeated, was wrong.
And because
of this, because she said on national television something that was later found
to be incorrect, she was deemed unqualified by Senators John McCain and Lindsey
Graham.
What was
Susan Rice’s response to this? She
has said that she was sharing the assessment of the intelligence community,
which included the CIA and the Director of National Security. In effect, she was stating on all of
those Sunday political talk shows what the intelligence community believed to
be true.
And for
that, the political right has vilified her.
But let’s
not leave President Barack Obama out of this. If he believed she was being treated unfairly, and judging
from his post election presser that he did, he should have defended her. Instead, without a formal nomination,
and the administration behind her, Rice was hung out to dry by her friend,
President Obama and left to twist in the wind.
Ambassador
Rice saw the writing on the wall.
She correctly ascertained that President Obama was not going to wage a
fight for her, and that Sens. McCain and Graham were prepared to block her
nomination. She was in a no win
position and she knew it.
Despite the
fact that Susan Rice has been one of our best leaders in the State Department,
serving two administrations, despite her having served on the National Security
Council, and despite a sterling education that includes a Rhodes Scholarship at
Oxford, Susan Rice had been deemed unqualified to be Secretary of State.
It was only
a few years back that Secretary Powell, Secretary Rumsfeld and National
Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice told us that we had to attack Iraq and Saddam
Hussein because that country had amassed a cache of WMD’s that made America
vulnerable.
We soon learned,
after thousands of Americans died in that war that in fact the intelligence was
wrong. We believed it to be right,
as did many others around the world, but as a point of fact, it was wrong as Director Rice has since admitted.
Yet we heard
no howls of protest and no questions about the intelligence of Secretary’s Powell,
Rumsfeld, or Condoleezza Rice back then from anyone on the political right. No one felt Director Rice was
unqualified to become Secretary of State back then because she had gone on
television numerous times and wrongly assured us that Iraq had WMD.
Senators
McCain and Graham, you should be ashamed for the way you have attacked this
immensely qualified woman and torpedoed her nomination to be Secretary of
State.
President
Obama, if this is how you treat your close friends, it is no wonder we hear so
many stories about how hard it is to connect to you.
All of you would at best receive a mark of needs to improve on a first grade report card for playing well with others.
Ambassador
Rice, thank you. You have proved
that in the growing cesspool that is our nations capital, there are still
honorable people doing their best in trying circumstances to serve our
countries interests, rather than their own.
Labels: Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Hillary Clinton, Iraq, John McCain, Libya, Lindsey Graham, President Obama, Saddam Hussein, Secretary of State, Susan Rice, UN |
Comments on "The Susan Rice Nomination... another failing grade for Washington..."
& now we're left with John Kerry as the front nominee who not that long ago assured us Syria's Assad was a "reformer." He'll probably be confirmed though.
A considered opinion; Rice was the best choice.
All of the conservatives act like she was near the apex of some Obama-conspiracy when she was only repeating information she was given. McCain should have known better.
I completely agree Z...
BB, you may be right and her non nomination may well put Israel realists Chuck Hegal at Defense...
The same cabal that torpedoed Susan Rice is going after Hagel.
(as if a Republican who actually
saw combat in VN is somehow unqualified at DOD) If they can't run the country, they prefer to
stop those that were elected from
accomplishing anything.
Rice lied about what happened in Libya. The truth was public knowledge at the time, but she told the fake story.
But it is good that she realizes she is incompetent and unqualified and took her name out of the running.
Also, in regards to the previous Rice, in the general, she was correct. Iraq had stockpiled WMDs, even one of which was a serious cease fire violation. Saddam's Iraq also backed and funded and supported and hosted a large number of terrorist groups... something which it made no sense to allow after 9/11 (and was also an act of war; a violation of the cease-fire). Saddam's regime, also in blatant violation of the cease-fire, targetted and/or fired upon innocent Americans. The only irresponsible thing would have been to ignore the multi-faceted aggression from Saddam's regime.
Z-men. Kerry is also the man who said glowing/approving things of the death camps North Vietnam set up in South Vietnam as part of its reign of terror after conquering the country.
Kerry is not the man to represent the interests of the United States of people in the world victimized by the regimes that he loves.
...and dmarks frets about Benghazi .
Very damning, if true. But such an iffy post, a textbook example of Godwin's law. And it does not let Rice of the hook for lying about the cause of this incident long after it was known.