Rice Stepping Back from Sec State Bid

By Susan Yoshihara, Ph.D. | December 13, 2012

US UN ambassador Susan Rice, embroiled in the controversy over the killing of a US ambassador in Benghazi, has stepped back from her bid to become America’s next top diplomat. Rice appeared on five Sunday talk shows in the final days of President Obama’s presidential campaign asserting that the killing was a reaction to an American-made video, even though intelligence experts had already determined it was a terrorist attack by al Qaeda.

At 4pm today she sent a letter to staff at the US mission to the UN, saying:

Dear USUN colleagues,

Today I submitted the attached letter to President Obama, asking him to no longer consider my candidacy for Secretary of State.   My reasons for doing so are described in the letter, and I wanted to share it with you right away.

It is my great privilege and honor to serve with you. You are an incredibly talented and inspiring team, and I am deeply indebted for all you have accomplished.  I consider it a tremendous privilege to serve our country and this President as the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations and I look forward to continuing to serve with you. And I know you will join me in offering our fullest support to whomever the President nominates to succeed our remarkable Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

With respect and gratitude,

Ambassador Rice

The letter reminds me of Attorney General Janet Reno’s highly public announcement in 1996 that she was happy to continue serving as US Attorney General. The letter was seen at the time as her way of heading off (anticipated) pressure from the White House to leave the post in Clinton’s second term.

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