WASHINGTON (AP) - Susan Rice, the embattled U.N. ambassador, abruptly
withdrew from consideration to be the next secretary of state on
Thursday after a bitter, weekslong standoff with Republican senators who
declared they would fight to defeat her nomination.
The reluctant announcement makes Massachusetts Sen.
John Kerry the likely choice to be the nation's next top diplomat when
Hillary Rodham Clinton departs soon. Rice withdrew when it became clear
her political troubles were not going away, and support inside the White
House for her potential nomination had been waning in recent days,
administration officials said.
In another major part of the upcoming Cabinet
shake-up for President Barack Obama's second term, former Republican
Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska now is seen as the front-runner to be
defense secretary, with official word expected as soon as next week.
For the newly re-elected president, Rice's
withdrawal was a sharp political setback and a sign of the difficulties
Obama faces in a time of divided and divisive government. Already, he
had been privately weighing whether picking Rice would cost him
political capital he would need on later votes.
When Rice ended the embarrassment by stepping
aside, Obama used the occasion to criticize Republicans who were
adamantly opposed to her possible nomination.
"While I deeply regret the unfair and misleading
attacks on Susan Rice in recent weeks, her decision demonstrates the
strength of her character," he said.
"I am saddened we have reached this point," Rice said.
Obama made clear she would remain in his inner
circle, saying he was grateful she would stay as "our ambassador at the
United Nations and a key member of my Cabinet and national security
team." Rice, too, said in her letter she would be staying.
Clinton, in a brief statement, said that Rice had
"been an indispensable partner over the past four years" and that she
was confident "that she will continue to represent the United States
with strength and skill."
Rice had become the face of the bungled
administration account of what happened in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11,
2012, when four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, were
killed in what is now known to have been a terrorist attack.
Obama had defiantly declared he would chose her for
secretary of state regardless of the political criticism, if he wanted,
but such a choice could have gotten his second term off to a turbulent
start with Capitol Hill.
In a letter to Obama, Rice said she was convinced
the confirmation process would be "lengthy, disruptive and costly." The
letter was part of a media rollout aimed at upholding her reputation. It
included an NBC News interview in which she said her withdrawal "was
the best thing for our country."
"Those of you who know me know that I'm a fighter, but not at the cost of what's right for our country," she tweeted later.
Rice may end up close to Obama's side in another
way, as his national security adviser should Tom Donilon move on to
another position, though that is not expected imminently. The security
adviser position would not require Senate confirmation.
Rice would have faced strong opposition from Senate
Republicans who challenged her much-maligned televised comments about
the cause of the deadly raid on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
Her efforts to satisfy Sens. John McCain, Lindsey
Graham, Kelly Ayotte and Susan Collins in unusual, private sessions on
Capitol Hill fell short. The Republicans emerged from the meetings still
expressing doubts about her qualifications.
"The position of secretary of state should never be
politicized," Rice said. "As someone who grew up in an era of
comparative bipartisanship and as a sitting U.S national security
official who has served in two U.S. administrations, I am saddened that
we have reached this point."
Attention now shifts to Kerry, who came close to
winning the presidency in 2004 and has been seen as desiring the State
job. In a statement, he made no mention of his own candidacy but praised
Rice, who was an adviser to him in his presidential bid. Kerry was an
early backer of Obama and was under consideration to become his first
secretary of state. Obama has dispatched Kerry to foreign hot spots on
his behalf. Kerry played the role of Republican Mitt Romney during
Obama's presidential debate preparations this year.
The longtime senator would be almost certain to be easily confirmed by his colleagues on Capitol Hill.
If Obama taps Kerry for State, the president will
create a potential problem for Democrats by opening a Senate seat - one
that recently defeated Republican Sen. Scott Brown is eyeing. Brown had
been elected as Massachusetts' other senator in January 2010 after
Democrat Ted Kennedy died, stunning the political world as he took the
seat held by Kennedy for decades. Brown lost that seat in the November
election.
House Democratic women had cast the criticism of
Rice as sexist and racist - she is African-American - and some expressed
disappointment with the news.
"If judged fairly based solely on her
qualifications for the job, she would've made an extraordinary secretary
of state," said Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., a member of the House
Foreign Affairs Committee.
Rice did not have a strong relationship with
members of the Senate. Graham, who is the top Republican on the
Appropriations subcommittee that handles foreign aid and the State
Department, said he barely knew her.
In a brief statement, a spokesman for McCain said
the senator "thanks Ambassador Rice for her service to the country and
wishes her well. He will continue to seek all the facts surrounding the
attack on our consulate in Benghazi."
Rice's decision comes ahead of the anticipated
release next week of a report by an Accountability Review Board into the
attack on the Benghazi mission. The report ordered by Clinton, focuses
on the run-up to and the actual attack and is not expected to mention
Rice's role in its aftermath.
Clinton is to testify about the report before Congress next Thursday.
At issue is the explanation Rice offered in a series of talk show appearances five days after the attack in Libya.
Rice has conceded in private meetings with
lawmakers that her initial account - that a spontaneous demonstration
over an anti-Muslim video produced in the U.S. triggered the attack -
was wrong, but she has insisted she was not trying to mislead the
American people. Information for her account was provided by
intelligence officials.
She reasserted that position in an opinion piece
published late Thursday on The Washington Post's website, adding, "In
recent weeks, new lines of attack have been raised to malign my
character and my career. Even before I was nominated for any new
position, a steady drip of manufactured charges painted a wholly false
picture of me. This has interfered increasingly with my work on behalf
of the United States at the United Nations and with America's agenda."
Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska,
is a Vietnam veteran, served two terms in the Senate and was a senior
member of the Foreign Relations Committee. Obama and Hagel became close
while they served in the Senate and traveled overseas together. Hagel
has been critical of his party since leaving the Senate in 2008, saying
the GOP had moved too far right.
___
Associated Press writers Donna Cassata, Ken Thomas, Matthew Lee and Matthew Daly contributed to this report.
Copyright 2012 The
Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
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Susan Rice (left) and John Kerry (right)
