Somewhere John McCain Is Smiling!

UN Ambassador Susan Rice has withdrawn her name from consideration for Secretary of State. 

In a letter to the president, the ambassador said that she came to the conclusion that her confirmation would be “lengthy, disruptive and costly to you and to our most pressing national and international priorities.”  In the end she took one for the team.

Ambassador Rice had come under withering criticism from Senator John McCain and a small group of his entourage for her statements regarding the attacks on the American consulate in Benghazi.  The criticism was unfounded as the ambassador was simply reading from unclassified talking points provided by the intelligence agency.  Rather than attack the person(s) responsible for talking points and consulate security: golden boy CIA Director Davis Patreus, and the formidable Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, McCain and his buddies chose attack the messenger. 

Upon learning of the verbal attacks on his ambassador and long time friend, the president was effusive in his praise of her accomplishments and animated in his defense of her role (or lack thereof) in the Benghazi affair.  The president’s comments where laced with a noticeable anger rarely exhibited by the “too cool for school” Obama.

So the question has to be asked…if Ambassador Rice is as uniquely qualified as the president says she is; why didn’t he nominate her right then and there.  Why didn’t he stand up to McCain and say… “She’s the most qualified person.  She’s the right person for the job and for the country; and therefore she is my nominee…If you disagree I’m happy to have that discussion.” Instead the president left her twisting in the wind.

Perhaps he was listening to those inside the White House who were asking if he really wanted to have this fight.  After all there will be several contentious debates in the upcoming weeks and months over tax reform, entitlement reform, immigration reform, the debt ceiling etc.  We’ll never know.  But from a purely political perspective…the president caved in on this one.

This is not the first time that this president has been strong on rhetoric but weak on action.  And don’t think for a moment that Republicans don’t sense that very fact.

McCain’s dislike for Rice is legendary.  She was one of then Senator Obama’s chief surrogates during the 2008 campaign.  She publically questioned whether McCain was qualified to hold the Oval Office; citing his short temper and weak economic bona fides as disqualifiers.  And McCain is still bitter about his loss to Obama in the general election.  Over the past four years McCain has gone out of his way to be a thorn in the president’s side.  Susan Rice was just too easy a target to pass up.  And now he has her professional scalp for a trophy.

Republicans have always been far more willing than Democrats to fight until the bitter end for whatever their cause may be.  Even today after getting bludgeoned in the November election we see Republicans refusing to admit defeat as they resume their obstructionist tactics.

The Republicans may have won this battle but they will pay a price.  They seem to have already forgotten that one of the reasons they lost last November was due to their policies against women and minorities.  Kicking a well educated, well qualified black woman to the curb will not be soon forgotten.

As for the president; he is no doubt getting an earful from his base.  The president caved on Guantanamo, single payer health care and extending the Bush Tax Cuts just to name a few. Now it appears he has caved in on Susan Rice.  You can bet his base will be watching to see if he follows up on his promise to raise taxes on the rich.  If he caves on this…the reaction won’t be pretty.

Somewhere John McCain is smiling.