Tag: secretary of state

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Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton Heads Back To Work Today

After suffering a series of ailments over the past few weeks including a stomach virus, a concussion and a blood clot, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will return to work on Monday according to information received from the State Department.

Mrs. Clinton will pick up where she left off with a busy schedule this week, including White House meetings with Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and national security adviser Tom Donilon. The Secretary of State will also meet with the ambassadors of Ireland and South Africa on Tuesday, and with Afghan President Hamid Karzai later in the week, according to the State Department.

Mrs. Clinton came under a barrage of attacks from Republicans, who accused her of faking her illness to avoid testifying on the tragic events in Benghazi. She will step down from her role as Secretary of State in a few weeks. Senator John Kerry is expected to be confirmed as the new Secretary of State.

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Benghazi Politics

After Being Wrongfully Blamed By Republicans, Susan Rice Withdraws Her Name

Thanks to the lies of Fox News and the Republicans in Congress, one of the most qualified people ever to be considered for Secretary of State has withdraw her name from consideration. Susan Rice, whose only fault was repeating the official talking points regarding the attack in Benghazi, has decided that the confirmation process is “simply not worth it.”

Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who drew heavy criticism from Republicans over her statements after the September attacks on a U.S. diplomatic mission, withdrew her name from consideration for secretary of state on Thursday.

In a letter to President Barack Obama, she said “the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive, and costly — to you and to our most pressing national and international priorities. That trade-off is simply not worth it to our country.”

Obama acknowledged her letter in a statement that described her as “an extraordinarily capable, patriotic, and passionate public servant.”

She was thought to be a frontrunner for the post, which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she would vacate as soon as a successor is confirmed.

Read her letter to the president below:

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Benghazi Benghazi Politics

Claire McCaskill – Republicans Are “Looking For A Scalp” And Susan Rice Has One.

Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill appeared on Meet The Press today and defended United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice. Asked about Susan Rice and the roadblock Republicans are building to deny her the job of Secretary of State, McCaskill said;

“I think it’s terribly unfair what has happened to Susan Rice.

“I do not understand for the life of me — the talking-points came from the intelligence community, yet you don’t hear one criticism of [former CIA Director] David Petraeus. It was his shop that produced the talking-points that Susan Rice talked about, and she mentioned al-Qaeda in the interviews.”

McCaskill also compared Susan Rice to Condoleezza Rice, who worked in the Bush administration and promoted the Bush talking-points making it possible to start the war in Iraq.

“I mean, really? Is there a double-standard here? It appears to most of us that there is. A very unfair one. This is a strong, smart, capable, accomplished woman, and I think there are too many people over there that are looking for a scalp.”

Republicans led by John McCain and Lindsey Graham have vowed not to support Susan Rice’s nomination for Secretary of State if she is nominated by President Obama, and they claim the talking-points Rice used to describe the events in Benghazi is their reason to deny her the nomination. McCaskill correctly pointed out that these talking-points did not come from Rice, but this little fact makes no difference to Republicans.

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Benghazi Domestic Policies

White House Source – Hillary Clinton Prefers John Kerry Over Susan Rice

A White House source is saying today that if Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were to pick her successor, she wouldn’t choose Ambassador Susan Rice, but would instead go with Senator John Kerry.

According to reporter Michael Sneed at theChicago Sun-Times, the source said, “Hillary is not close to Rice, who is tough — but is not the friendliest person. And Hillary’s brief comment recently that Rice had done ‘a great job’ was considered underwhelming and tepid.”

The source went on,

“It would be hard for President Obama to back away from Rice, but he’s dealing with what’s known as ‘the Club of the Senate,’ which includes powerful U.S. Sen. John McCain — a Republican — who is adamantly against Rice and a big supporter of Kerry’s.”

Although the White House has made no official announcement yet regarding the next Secretary of State, a decision is expected soon.

h/t Mediaite

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Benghazi Politics

Meanwhile, Sen John Kerry Remains Quiet

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. John Kerry is angling to be the nation’s top diplomat by being, well, diplomatic.

The longtime Democratic lawmaker from Massachusetts has largely stayed quiet while President Barack Obama considers him for the next secretary of state. Kerry has asked his supporters to avoid overt lobbying of the White House on his behalf. And he’s defended his chief rival for the post, Susan Rice, amid Republican criticism of her initial explanation of the attack on Americans in Benghazi, Libya.

Kerry’s strategy reflects what people close to the senator say is his disdain for some aspects of Washington’s personnel politics. But it also underscores his awkward role in the process. If Obama taps Rice for the job Kerry covets, the senator would have to shepherd her difficult nomination through the foreign relations committee he chairs.

White House officials say Obama is still mulling over his pick to replace outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, though a decision is expected soon. Rice, who has a close relationship with the president, is widely viewed as the favorite. But Kerry’s stock may be rising as GOP lawmakers threaten to hold up Rice’s confirmation until they’re satisfied with her answers about the early public statements about the Benghazi attack.

But don’t expect Kerry or his allies to make his case to Obama as the president nears a decision, as is standard practice for people who are on a short list for a new job. People close to the senator say he finds backroom lobbying for top jobs irritating and counterproductive. That view, they say, is shaped from his experience on both sides of the process: as a contender for previous high-level jobs and as the one making the decision in 2004, when he tapped John Edwards as his running mate during his presidential bid.

“John Kerry is very seasoned at how personnel decisions get made by chief executives,” said Michael Meehan, a former Kerry aide. “He wouldn’t be out there advising anybody on how to make this decision.”

While Rice has several high-level advocates in the White House, particularly among advisers who have been with Obama since his 2008 campaign, Kerry has his fans within the administration as well. He backed Obama early in his 2008 presidential run and was under consideration to be his first secretary of state. More recently, Kerry spent months helping Obama with his campaign debate preparations, playing the role of Republican nominee Mitt Romney in practice sessions.

h/t AP

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