By no means is this set in stone, but ABC News is reporting that Susan Rice is President-elect Obama's top choice to be our next Ambassador to the United Nations.
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.
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.
This would be a strong choice. If the world is looking for change, this is a good Dr. Rice. We're a long way from the days of sending John Bolton to stomp around the UN like he owned the place.
Susan Rice is a forty-four year old former Rhodes Scholar who served in different capacities during the Clinton administration, first as a member of the National Security Council, and eventually working her way up to Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs (source: wiki, I know I know).
In addition to her work in government, Dr. Rice has also served as a senior foreign policy adviser to both John Kerry and most notably to Barack Obama. The latter obviously values her expertise and council, and she vouched quite effectively for Obama's judgment and vision. I found this awesome smackdown she delivered to Rudy Giuliani:
The real zinger of the call also came from Dr. Rice, criticizing former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. In response to Giuliani's criticism of the Supreme Court decision allowing Guantanamo Bay detainees to petition for the right of habeas corpus, Rice read a quote from a 1994 New York times article about the trial of the bombers in the first World Trade Center attacks. Giuliani said that trying the bombers, "demonstrates that New Yorkers won't meet violence with violence, but with a far greater weapon--the law." Rice then said that Giuliani thus, "was for the law before he was against it."
Dr. Rice has written extensively on the genocide in Darfur. I'll leave you with one of her 2007 reflections on the world's response to this crisis:
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.