Changes

:"President Obama had a rare 'bring-it-on' moment...'If [[Senator McCain]] and [[Senator Graham]] and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me...For them to go after the U.N. ambassador . . . and to besmirch her reputation, is outrageous.' ... Obama’s over-the-top defense of Rice was surprising...She is ill-equipped to be the nation’s top diplomat....The Russian business daily ''Kommersant'' quoted an anonymous Russian foreign ministry official as saying that Rice, who quarreled with [[Russia]] over [[Syria]], is “too ambitious and aggressive,” and her appointment would make it “more difficult for [[Moscow]] to work with [[Washington DC|Washington]].” ...in her much-criticized TV performance, she was reciting talking points given to her by the intelligence agencies. But that’s the trouble. Rice stuck with her points even though they had been contradicted by the president of the Libyan National Assembly, who, on CBS’s ''[[Face the Nation]]'' just before Rice, said there was “no doubt” that the attack on Americans in Benghazi “was preplanned.” Rice rebutted the [[Libya]]n official, arguing — falsely, it turned out — that there was no evidence of such planning. True, Rice was following orders from the White House, which she does well. But the nation’s top diplomat needs to show more sensitivity and independence — traits Clinton has demonstrated in abundance. Obama can do better at State than Susan Rice.<ref><small>The article states, "Rice has managed to make an impressive array of enemies ...when she was an assistant secretary of state during the Clinton administration, she appalled colleagues by flipping her middle finger at [[Richard Holbrooke]] during a meeting with senior staff at the State Department, according to witnesses. Colleagues talk of shouting matches and insults. Among those she has insulted is the woman she would replace at State. Rice was one of the first former Clinton administration officials to defect to Obama’s primary campaign against Hillary Clinton. Rice condemned Clinton’s [[Iraq]] and [[Iran]] positions, asking for an “explanation of how and why she got those critical judgments wrong.” Clinton got a measure of revenge in 2010 after she worked out a deal with the Russian foreign minister on a package of Iran sanctions to be adopted by the U.N. Security Council. The White House wanted Rice to make the announcement (part of a campaign to increase her profile that included high-visibility foreign trips and TV appearances), but a Clinton aide got Kerry to ask [i.e. [[leak ]] the message] Clinton about the matter during an unrelated Senate hearing...It was Rice’s own shoot-first tendency that caused her to be benched as a spokesman for the Obama campaign for a time in 2008. She unnerved European allies when she denounced as “counterproductive” and “self-defeating” the U.N. policy that Iran suspend its nuclear program before talks can begin. She criticized President [[George W. Bush]] and McCain because they “insisted” on it. But, as The Post’s Glenn Kessler pointed out at the time, European diplomats were rattled by such remarks because the precondition was their idea. Rice’s pugilism provoked the Russians to weigh in this week in opposition to her nomination as secretary of state."