Sticky Rice Situation

The controversy over Susan Rice's possible nomination to succeed Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State took an interesting turn when it was reported that the intelligence apparatus of the government, not the White House, give Dr. Rice the talking points she went by on the September 16 Sunday morning talk shows regarding the Benghazi incident in which U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three others were killed.  In fact, Mrs. Clinton herself was asked to go on the Sunday morning talk show circuit with the talking points, but she wasn't feeling well at the time, and Dr. Rice was an alternate choice.  Furthermore, it must be noted that Dr. Rice made it clear that the information she and others had about Benghazi - that information that could be safely disseminated without tipping off al-Qaeda - was accurate to the best of her knowledge.

In a normal country, that would silence Dr. Rice's detractors.  But this is America, and so U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have not relented in trying to stop President Obama from nominating her to be Secretary of State.  In fact, they're ready to block it all by themselves, as is their senatorial prerogative.  Charges of racism toward Dr. Rice have been leveled against both of them, but to me it seems more partisan than racist.  After all, they're giving her a hard time over something that other Dr. Rice would never have been subject to abuse over.

Pro-Obama media personalities have weighed in against - yes, against - the appointment of Dr. Rice to head the State Department.  Their arguments are actually rational.  Dana Milbank of the Washington Post insists that Dr,. Rice, unlike Mrs. Clinton, is too undiplomatic in personal situations and rubs people the wrong way, while Chris Matthews says she would be a good choice . . . but that Senator John Kerry (D-MA) would be a much better choice. Matthews argues that Kerry, who's made no secret of wanting the State Department post, has the kind of gravitas and portfolio that Mrs. Clinton has, and he's a skilled foreign policy expert who's from the outside, not someone who would be merely promoted from within the Obama team, like Dr. Rice.

If the President has to look outside the White House for a new Secretary of State - assuming Dr. Rice is ultimately rendered unacceptable (but not necessarily by Obama) - I would hope that he appoints Bill Richardson to the post.  The Democrats need Kerry's Senate seat.  To respond to the argument that any Massachusetts Democrat could easily win that Senate seat in a special election, I need only point out that Scott Brown, a Republican, won the last one.  And, given Republicans' penchant for coming back from the dead to try and regain formerly held Senate seats (that ploy worked well for Dan Coats in Indiana, not so well for George Allen in Virginia), does anyone in the Bay State really want to risk a comeback from Brownie?

Think about it.