Washington – Susan Rice withdrew her name from consideration as U.S. secretary of state on Thursday in the face of what promised to be a difficult Senate confirmation battle.
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Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and a close confidante of President Barack Obama, said she was withdrawing from the process to avoid a lengthy, costly and disruptive confirmation battle.
“That trade-off is simply not worth it to our country,” she wrote in a letter to Obama.
Rice has faced questions about comments she made days after the September 11 assault on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, when the Obama administration said the attack was a result of a spontaneous demonstration over a film made in the United States that was insulting to the Prophet Mohammad.
Obama issued a statement saying he had accepted her decision and is grateful she will continue as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Hillary Clinton is planning to step down as secretary of state.
Rice did not withdraw her candidacy on her own volition. She was prompted to by aides of the President. There is an old saying that “it all comes out in the wash”. If she wished to play in the big leagues, then she should have been more forthright with the American people. Instead, she went on the airwaves numerous times with a story, which has proved to be bubba meises. Now, she will probably write a book about the entire matter.
She was a bright lady, but her appetite for the future is not as strong as we might have hoped. I guess we can find another candidate, but her future is what it is now. Less for the promise of a positive outcome from this election for Mr. Obama I guess. Either way, let her have her dance for now. I liked her and was on her side, but stopping the game because the odds are in someone elses favor is never the calibre of a secretary of state.