苏珊·赖斯作为提取候选国务卿

U.N. 苏珊é大使. 赖斯撤回她的名字周四美国总统奥巴马的州务卿候选人领先, 并称政府可能买不起“漫长, 在陈述她做了有关在利比亚的极端主义袭击，造成四个美国人破坏性的，昂贵的“确认打.

赖斯称奥巴马在周四上午, 送他的来信，正式审议之前退出. 赖斯在接受采访时说，她已经结束本周初就是她和奥巴马认为“不公平和误导”的罪名对她在九月. 11 攻击班加西, 利比亚, 会妨碍总统的第二任期议程.

“这是我的决定,“赖斯说. 当被问到如果奥巴马曾试图劝阻她, she said that he “understood that this was the right decision, and that I made it for the right reasons.”

Her withdrawal leaves Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John F. 黑色的小乳牛 (麻州) with no apparent rivals to take over from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. A senior administration official said that “something strange would have to happen” for Kerry not to be the choice.

The official also said that former senator Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) has emerged as a “solid” candidate to run the Pentagon, although a final decision has not been made. For the CIA, the official said, Obama is deciding between Acting Director Michael J. Morell and deputy national security adviser John O. Brennan, who has yet to tell the president whether he would accept the job.

As Obama assembles his second-term national security team, formal announcements are due as early as next week. National security adviser Thomas E. Donilon will remain in his job, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal White House deliberations.

Rice said in the interview that “after a long, grueling battle, in all likelihood, I would be confirmed.” The assessment was shared by White House officials and by senior Democratic congressional aides who said they were confident that a majority of senators would have voted for her.

“But I really came to believe this would not be weeks, but potentially months, and in­cred­ibly distracting and disruptive,“赖斯说. The first few months of any president’s second term, 她说：, are “your high-water mark of influence.”

“If my nomination meant that the odds of getting comprehensive immigration reform passed or any other major priority were substantially reduced, I couldn’t live with myself,“她说.

Rice’s withdrawal was a retreat by Obama, who had repeatedly voiced support for her. In a statement issued by the White House, Obama described her as “an extraordinarily capable, patriotic, and passionate public servant.”

But her removal from the scene is unlikely to quell the controversy that led to it: the extremist attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya that killed U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

Sens. 约翰·麦凯恩 (R-亚利桑那州。) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-资深大律师。) have focused on what they called Rice’s intentionally misleading description, in television interviews five days after the attack, of an anti-American demonstration that turned violent. The administration later revised that assessment, using what it said was updated intelligence information, to blame organized extremists.

Rice’s withdrawal, Graham said in a statement, “will not end questions about what happened in Benghazi.” Clinton is scheduled to appear before House and Senate committees next week to discuss an independent State Department review of possible security lapses that is nearing completion.

Rice and Obama made clear that she will continue at the United Nations. But administration officials said Obama left open a door when he spoke of her “limitless capability to serve our country now and in the years to come.”

</fb:喜欢></span><span id=check-twitter> THE FIX | Romney would have had to carry a majority of their vote — basically unthinkable for the GOP.

In the weeks before the Nov. 6 presidential election, as Republican criticism of Rice crystallized, the White House initially portrayed the fight over her as nakedly partisan. Congressional Republicans were unfairly attacking the ambassador simply because she represented the White House, administration spokesmen said.

GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney also criticized the White House over the attack and suggested there had been a cover-up.

But the controversy over Rice’s portrayal of the attack did not evaporate after Obama won, and some congressional Democrats became worried about the cost of a nomination battle that probably would make negotiations over taxes and spending more difficult.

The White House insisted that Rice’s television appearances had been closely coordinated with the intelligence community, and senior intelligence officials came forth with background statements supporting her.

Obama did not disguise his anger in defending Rice at a news conference after the election.

“If Senator McCain and Senator Graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me,“他说. “I’m happy to have that discussion with them. But for them to go after the U.N. ambassador who had nothing to do with Benghazi, and was simply making a presentation based on intelligence that she had received, and besmirch her reputation is outrageous.”

But White House attempts to mollify critics and round up support by sending Rice to Capitol Hill for two days of meetings last month backfired when moderates such as Sen. 柯林斯 (R-Maine) declined to endorse her.

Collins’s criticism was a red flag for the administration. Along with new Republican charges this week that Rice had mishandled diplomatic tasks when she served as the Bill Clinton administration’s chief diplomat on Africa, Rice and the White House began to believe that the cause was not worth the price.

The Africa charges, a senior Obama official said, “indicated that they were going to keep going — once they ran out of one issue, they would manufacture another.”

By last Sunday, Rice said in the interview, “I started very seriously thinking that the costs really outweighed the benefits. That no number of facts or rationality or reason was going to deter those who were determined to make this a political issue.”

In its schedule, the White House said Obama will meet with Rice in the Oval Office on Friday.

Throughout the controversy, Kerry has said little about Rice. 上周四, he called her “an extraordinarily capable and dedicated public servant.”

“As someone who has weathered my share of political attacks and understands on a personal level just how difficult politics can be,“他说, “I’ve felt for her throughout these last difficult weeks, but I also know that she will continue to serve with great passion and distinction.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. 里德 (D-Nev的。) said Rice could have been confirmed by the Senate but for the actions of certain Republicans. “The politically motivated attacks on her character from some of my Republican colleagues were shameful,” he said in a statement Thursday.

饭, 48, was an early Obama backer among Democratic national security experts who had worked in the Clinton White House, where she served on the National Security Council staff. 在 2008 运动, Hillary Clinton’s team considered Rice’s support for Obama a defection.

After Obama won, he gave Rice the U.N. job, 政策书呆子之间的梅花，但一个职位并不知名的全国性. 那里, 她迅速成为了白宫内幕与之间的政策顾问的奥巴马的亲密圈子紧密的联系. 赖斯没有不和谐的任何暗示公众一起工作希拉里·克林顿, 虽然两个人从来没有关闭.

在由国务院发表声明, 克林顿呼吁赖斯是“不可或缺的伙伴”，并表示，他们已经对难以解决的问题，如伊朗一起工作, 北朝鲜, 利比亚和南苏丹. “苏珊一直孜孜不倦地推进我们国家的利益和价值观,“克林顿说. “我相信，她将继续代表美国与力量和技巧。”

Rice said she does not think the secretary of state battle will undermine her effectiveness at the United Nations. “They know, because they’ve seen it firsthand, that I have the full confidence of the president,“她说.

来源: WP