Obama's Susan Rice strategy: Dare Republicans to spike her nomination

From Foreign Policy Wed Nov 14 2012, 22:05:32

President Obama came out with guns blazing at today's news conference, his first since re-election, pushing back hard against Republican senators' disparaging remarks about U.N. ambassador Susan Rice, Washington's odds-on favorite to get the nod as America's next secretary of state.

The president may indeed be genuinely outraged that one of his reportedly closest advisors is taking heat for the Sept. 11 snafu in Benghazi -- a situation Rice had nothing to do with. He repeated the administration's claim that when Rice took to the airwaves on Sept. 16 to explain the events in Libya, she was merely working with what the intelligence community had given her. And as far as we know, that's precisely what happened. (Benghazi isn't really the reason senators are objecting to Rice anyway, but that's for another post.)

But it's not hard to see the politics behind why Obama chose to confront the senators, mainly John McCain and Lindsey Graham, both of whom immediately fired back on the Senate floor. Neither man is especially beloved in the Republican caucus, and they may well be out of step with what Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to do. Moderates like Bob Corker, the presumed new ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, have played their cards close to the chest. If the White House can isolate McCain and Graham, then it shouldn't be too hard to come up with the 60 votes needed for cloture and an up-or-down vote (should Rice in fact be nominated). If and when Rice's name comes down next January, Democrats will be working with a 55-45 majority, so finding five Republican defectors ought to be easy.

Interestingly, some of the political types seem to have perked up ...

[view whole blog post ]
 See More    |     Report Abuse

People and Organizations:


You might also be interested in the following news stories:

Afrique de l'Ouest:  Crise du constitutionnalisme ? (analysis)
allAfrica.com
28 Mars 2024

L’Afrique de l’Ouest est aujourd’hui traversée par une vague de « contestations » ouverte ou diffuse, violente ou non violente des pratiques ... [read more]

Guinea Bissau:  Son of Former Guinea-Bissau President Jailed in US for Drug Trafficking (news)
Radio France Internationale
28 Mars 2024

The son of a former president of Guinea-Bissau was sentenced to more than six and a half years in prison for involvement in a transnational heroin trafficking conspiracy, the US Justice Department ... [read more]

Africa:  The Toxic Air We Breathe - Greenpeace Finds Hotspots in Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa (news)
Greenpeace International
28 Mars 2024

"The ten largest NO2 point sources identified in Africa are all thermal power stations, with nine in South Africa owned by ESKOM and the tenth in Côte d'Ivoire". Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa ... [read more]



blogAfrica is allAfrica.com's platform to help you keep an ear on the African blogosphere. We draw diverse voices from around the world who post regularly and insightfully about African issues. Bloggers, submit your blog's rss-feed!