Barack Obama’s Appointment of Susan Rice as U.N. Ambassador
Reader Comments
Woah, talk about cynicism
Another side of Dr. Rice. Seldom do you find a politician who is willing to admit mistakes. Seldom do you find a brilliant Rhodes Scholar and Phi Beta Kappa who gives her life to politics (well, Bill Clinton was a Rhodes Scholar, too). Seldom do you find a politician who disregards ideology in lieu of pragmatism. Seldom do you find a politician who has the wisdom to look at the future of the world v. the future of their career. Get a life folks (cute) and enjoy the new administration
africa
it's clear as day that Barack is taking a two pronged approach with regard to diplomacy that puts Africa at the center of his foreign policy. Rice is looking to redeem herself for the 90s follies while Hillary benefited from her husband's reception in the Motherland.
Susan Rice
To my knowledge, Dr. Rice's role in the war in the Congo -- the bloodiest since World War II -- has never been publically scurtinized. Her backing of that war has led to a death toll of five million. She should be held accountable for her prior performance before she is given a higher office.
PLANNED PARENTHOOD APLAUSE - A DARK SIGN...
Well, if the purveyors of abortion - anytime for any reason - are happy with Obama and his picks, that tells me all I have to know about the man and his cabinet.
As I've said many times, Lincoln would weep at the thought of such a man in the White House - Especially one who bought it.
Cecile Richards--so much for tolerance....
To translate Ms. Richards' comment: Americans are about to impose on the rest of the world the American definitions of women's equality, abortion on demand, child labor, domestic abuse, sexual freedom, and marriage. Please get me straight--there is much of value in many of these social positions--but they represent American culture, not other countries' cultures. Forcing our values on other countries is the same as forcing democracy on other countries. There is a fine line between aid, promotion of health, fighting poverty, and taking the next step to imposing our culture on the country. Ms. Rice and Secretary Clinton would do well to remember that.
And, at the risk of being labeled a heretic and being excommunicated, Planned Parenthood is not the best thing for women's health. It has done much to break up the relationship between a woman and her family physician--which in the long run leads to sporadic care, not consistent care.
Perhaps when the vast majority of FPs were men, it was a valuable interim solution. Now it interferes with good medical care. With so many women providers available, it would be better to encourage young women to establish with a family doctor who can treat her beyond her reproductive issues. Women need more than family planning even as teenagers. Atheroschlerosis starts as a young adult, cancer risks begin as much as thirty years before the cancer, what kind of family medical history is obtained when one goes in for birth control pills?
Moreover, promoting the idea of one doctor to manage your care leads to decreased medical costs, decreases communication errors, and allows for early prevention education. This is a good habit to encourage throughout life, instead of the current trend toward only seeing a walk-in doc when ill. It is impossible to promote prevention and health from a walk-in clinic or from a limited focus provider. We have actually lost ground in overall preventative medicine rather than gain it.
Last thought--why all the women concentrated in foreign relations? Why not women in the other Cabinet positions? Where are the women in the financial team?--second tier. Watch and see if the women are shoved to the rear in other realms as well.
Another fine mess we are getting into
Bonnie, you are looking for diamonds in a pile of equine scat. And Rice is no diamond, only shiny rhinestone. Without debating the impecunity of the UN and its perverse definitions of "racism" I would be happy were the UN moved to Port-au-Prince and then have presidents of the student bodies of all the Ivies and the largest public universities of each state of the union run Haiti for two years so that they can see that their good intentions are worthless...
I think the choice of Susan Rice is a disaster. As Assistant Secretary of State for Africa she was there when the arming of many African nations which resulted in wars, abject poverty and pointless slaughter. The Rwanda genocide occurred on her watch.
She is a fine academic perhaps, but it appears that she has no understanding of what was going on. However, she did have the chutzpah to lecture a British diplomat who was one of the negotiators trying to settle a problem about which she later wrote her (lightly read) dissertation. Another example of someone dealing in second and third-hand analyses and lecturing the participant about how something is supposed to work. You know, sort of like the alleged expertise of Samantha "Hillary is a monster" Power.
That the President-elect has high regard for Dr. Rice tells me that his grasp of history is flawed---perhaps he does not remember that it was also on her watch that Osama bin-Laden escaped capture.
But better image than substance, methinks.
Cabinet status says something about Obama's regard for Susan Rice. Perhaps it says even more about his regard for how we can better participate at the UN. Yes, the UN has problems. And, yes, it's the only large international body we have. We are not to just go there to make our case for pre-emptive war. We are to ENGAGE.
