Rice and Power: Obama’s new interventionists
The president named U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice as his national security adviser; Samantha Power will become the new U.N. Ambassador.
“Revenge is a dish best served cold. Except when it’s best served hot,” said Jeffrey Goldberg in Bloomberg.com. President Obama named U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice as his national security adviser last week—just a few months after Senate Republicans blamed her for “misleading the public” about the Benghazi attacks and forced her to withdraw from consideration as secretary of state. Rice’s new job requires no Senate confirmation, and brings her into “the innermost ring of power,” with a direct line to Obama on foreign-policy and defense issues. Giving such a critical job to a proven liar like Rice is an act of sheer “defiance,” said David Limbaugh in WashingtonExaminer.com. Worse yet, Obama has appointed as Rice’s replacement at the U.N. the “equally disturbing” Samantha Power—a leftist who has urged America to issue a “mea culpa” for its past crimes abroad. And so Obama’s “apology tour” continues.
On the contrary, said Doyle McManus in the Los Angeles Times. Obama has just signaled that he “wants to play offense, not defense.” Both Rice and Power are humanitarian interventionists who will push Obama to adopt a more “pugnacious” stance abroad in defense of human rights. Rice has publicly spoken about how “haunted” she was by America’s inaction over the Rwandan genocide in 1994; Power came to believe in U.S. intervention as a journalist covering the Bosnian war. Together, the pair convinced Obama to commit U.S. aid to Libyan rebels to prevent another genocide. Now the focus will turn to Syria, where at least 80,000 people have died in the civil war. Having spent his first term trying to recast America’s image in the world, Obama could now be “ready to throw a few elbows.”
Not likely, said Max Fisher in WashingtonPost.com. Rice and Power may be interventionists, but they’re also big proponents of acting through international institutions such as the U.N. Security Council and NATO. Neither organization has any appetite for a major military operation in Syria. Even if Rice and Power do push Obama to intervene there unilaterally, he’s already overruled much more senior officials making that same recommendation, including former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and CIA chief David Petraeus. Obama considers Rice and Power personal friends, and trusts them implicitly. But he’s convinced there are no good options in Syria—and they’re not going to change his mind.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Today's political cartoons - May 5, 2024
Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - annoying noises, gag orders, and more
By The Week US Published
-
5 highly educational cartoons about student protests
Cartoons Artists take on apolitical camping, the National Guard, and more
By The Week US Published
-
French schools and the scourge of teenage violence
Talking Point Gabriel Attal announces 'bold' intervention to tackle rise in violent incidents
By The Week UK Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published