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A Very Different Rice to be UN Ambassador

Obama will raise post to Cabinet, appoint anti-genocide crusader

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 1, 2008 9:06 AM CST

(Newser) – Barack Obama will name Susan Rice as his UN ambassador when he unveils his foreign policy team today, the New York Times reports. Rice (no relation to Condoleezza), was an assistant secretary of state under Bill Clinton, but has been an Obama adviser since the beginning. She’s an advocate of using “dramatic action” against genocide, including military force if need be.

“She’s obviously one of his closest advisers, so it underscores how much of a priority he’s making the position,” said one senior diplomat. Obama also intends to restore the ambassadorship to the Cabinet rank it enjoyed under Bill Clinton. Bush elected to let the ambassadorship slide, believing the UN should play a minor role in US foreign policy.

[Images (3)]

[Quotes (2)]

In an April 11, 2007 file photo, Susan E. Rice of the Brookings Institution testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak/file)

Then-presidential hopeful Barack Obama, takes a question from the audience at a foreign policy forum in Des Moines, Iowa, joined by former Assistant Secretary of State Susan Rice, Dec. 18, 2007. (AP Photo/Kevin Sanders, File)

Senior foreign policy adviser Susan Rice leaves the car of Barack Obama in front of the hotel Adlon in Berlin, Thursday, July 24, 2008. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer)

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I swore to myself that if I ever faced such a crisis again, I would come down on the side of dramatic action, going down in flames if that was required.
- Susan Rice told the Atlantic Monthly of her experiences in Rwanda after the 1994 genocide

Susan certainly is tough, and she’s tough in exactly the right way. She will be very effective as a diplomat.
- Strobe Talbott, president of the
Brookings Institute

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

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A Very Different Rice to be UN Ambassador