Susan Rice, UN Ambassador

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***Update 12/1, 11 AM***

At a news conference today, Obama introduced his picks of retired Marine Gen. James Jones as White House national security adviser, former Justice Department official Eric Holder as attorney general, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as secretary of homeland security, Susan Rice as UN Ambassador, Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State and Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense

Read more here.

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The International Herald Tribune provides some interesting background on Susan Rice, set to be announced as Obama's UN Ambassador Monday:

President-elect Barack Obama has chosen his foreign policy adviser, Susan Rice, to be ambassador to the United Nations, picking an advocate of "dramatic action" against genocide as he rounds out his national security team, Democrats close to the transition said Sunday.

Obama intends to announce Rice's selection at a news conference here Monday along with his previously reported decisions to nominate Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for secretary of state, keep Robert Gates as defense secretary and appoint General James Jones, a retired Marine commandant, his national security adviser, the Democrats said.

ABC originally reported on the almost-announcement, similar to the one seen with Obama's economic team:

ABC News has learned that Dr. Susan Rice has emerged as the leading candidate to be President-elect Obama's nominee as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

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Neither Dr. Rice nor the Obama Transition Team had any comment. The usual caveats apply -- nothing is yet a done deal, nothing has been officially offered or accepted, national security team announcements will not come until after Thanksgiving.

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Read Susan Rice's Huffington Post pieces:

March 6, 2008: C'mon, Senators Clinton and McCain

December 26, 2007: Ready to Lead on Day One?

November 28, 2007: Who's Got the Foreign Policy Experience We Need?

October 5, 2007: Blackwater Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg

July 14, 2005: Why Karl Rove Has To Go

June 29, 2005: Bush's Speech: Is He for Real?

May 10, 2005: Iraq: We Should Leave When We're Done

Comments

[gra8whit]

Hey, I believed Colin Powell, too. That was the whole point of the Bush administration sending Colin to do the presentation. The administration's credibility was already shot with the world (not yet in the U.S.) and so they needed a respectable stooge to sell their B.S.

[Kartoffel]

Ugh. An interventionist at the UN. As deplorable as the situation in Darfur is, we as a nation simply cannot afford any more military adventures, however well-intentioned. We are drowning under an ocean of debt, which means we can't be the world's police anymore. It's high time for the Europeans to step up and shoulder some of that burden.

[1will]

The fact that Susan Rice has "Huffington Post Pieces" destroys any credibility she had.

[Adiam]

That is interesting since she did not want the word genocide used to describe Rwanda since it was so close to the November elections. She also did not raise one finger to end it. Dr.Rice is the worst p.ossible choice for the position

[Eyewideopen]

PE Obama passed over Susan Rice for SOS for a lesser qualified white woman for political reasons, not the good of the country. That's why he's elevating the role of the UN Ambassador to the cabinet. He will be sorry he asked Hillary Clinton to be SOS. This has diminished him in my eyes.

[harriettubman]

I don't like Hillary as SOS either!!! Bad choice. It hasn't dminished Obama though. We won't agree with all of his selections.

[johnnycmlately]

Very good. Hopefully she can be an advocate to for putting a halt to all that's going on in not only Darfur but the Congo as well.

[gelles]

Awesome choice; wonder where we'll get the firepower-utilize our military to put a halt to the genocide with Bush and his cronies having tapped it out so completely?

[Kalitipo]

AWESOME......She's gonna chase the sudanese president outter DAFUR

[RedDogBear]

Yeah that is just what we need right now, to get involved in more wars. This woman scares me. "Humanitarian wars" are BS. Its just one more cover for more money to build and use war toys. We need people who can make progress through diplomacy not by threatening everyone with more war.

[mcantwell]

I was very impressed with her speech at the Press Conference.

[iwantpie]

Agreed.

[DaveTakaki]

Ambassador nominee Rice will bring a long absent conscience to the UN. One indication on how she may represent Americans can be gleaned from a recent Brookings Institution paper on genocide she co-authored. It concluded,

"The outrage and alarm sounded over the continuing genocide in Darfur is a reminder of how far human rights have traveled in the public consciousness in a few short decades. Tragically, it is also a reminder of how far there is to go in translating public concern into effective action. If the emerging norm of the responsibility to protect endangered populations fails to spur a sufficient response in Darfur, then the idea has no more utility than the paper on which it is printed. The instruments exist; sufficient government will, to date, does not. The lives of hundreds of thousands of Sudanese have already been lost; tens of thousands more are in jeopardy. And so is a principle that once bore much promise but requires implementation in real time to make any difference."

Susan Rice has seen first hand in Rwanda the cost of genocide unanswered when nations equivocate and do nothing beyond words. She understands at a visceral level that response with force of arms must be quick, and decisive in halting incipient genocide and restoring order. No Pollyanna, Rice understands Thomas Hobbes' grim view on the human condition.

"And covenants, without the sword, are but words and of no strength to secure a man at all."
The Leviathan 1651

[karela]

Thought provoking post. Thanks.

[mirage2008]

Susan Rice is pretty. Therefore I approve the choice. ;-D

[Sarahmay57]

It will be a nice change to see our nation do good in the world for a change.

[exotic]

One great move by the president elect is Susan Rice will report directly to him, not Hillary.

Now I think I am beginning to see the logic.

[Eyewideopen]

Susan should have been SOS, then Barack would not have to reconfigure his cabinet.

[karela]

Susan is in a good place to do the most good. Hillary will also be well placed to do good. Hillary is known by tens of millions more people world wide and Susan is respected very much in the United Nations. I think that it's wise of Obama to have them both reporting directly to him. And I think he placed each of them in the positions where they can do the most good for the country and the world. Susan will be a force for good in the United Nations. I'm very pleased to have her there. It is a better stage for her humanitarian efforts. Hillary will do well working with red tape and diplomatic channels. She understands the game very well and she is a very intelligent person. Obama knows well what he's doing.

[Georgianna]

This young woman is brilliant! I am very pleased that President-elect Obama selected her as part of his team.

[Kindheart]

It appears that the world did not learn the lessons from the Holocaust. If they did, genocide won't continue in our world. We must stop it, once and for all..