HIRE’S TO YOU: President Obama exits a White House event naming Susan Rice national security adviser and Samantha Power (far right) his UN chief. (
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WASHINGTON — President Obama named longtime adviser and UN Ambassador Susan Rice to his national security team, in a rebuke to Republican critics who slammed her response to the attack in Benghazi, Libya.
The White House’s selection of Rice as national security adviser does not require Senate consent, thus dodging a messy floor fight.
Rice had been a top contender to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state but ended up pulling out in the face of relentless GOP opposition. The president installed Rice in a post he called “one of the most demanding” in government.
Speaking in the White House Rose Garden, Obama yesterday called Rice “a patriot who puts her country first,” as well as someone who is “fearless” and “tough.” She replaces Tom Donilon, who is stepping down.
After the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on a US diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Rice appeared on Sunday talk shows and stuck to administration talking points — saying the attack was partly a result of spontaneous protests while downplaying the role of terrorism.
The recent release of administration e-mails on Benghazi revealed Rice was mostly saying what she was told, after State Department officials got the original CIA talking points watered down.
Some key Republicans who had boiled over when Obama was considering Rice as secretary of state sounded more restrained.
Sen. John McCain, of Arizona, tweeted, “Obviously I disagree” with Obama on the appointment, but said he’d make “every effort” to work with Rice on important issues. When she was up for the job at State, McCain said Rice “should have known” that terrorists were behind the attack.
Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) said Rice did a “disservice to the nation when she made misleading” statements about Benghazi. “However, it’s [Obama’s] call and I’ll work with her going forward.”
Others were more critical.
“I can’t imagine that we would be keeping Ambassador Rice in any significant position, much less promoting her to an important position,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told Fox.
Rice told Obama she was “deeply grateful for your enduring confidence in me.”
Obama named another former lightning rod, Samantha Power, to succeed Rice at the UN. During the 2008 campaign, when she was an unpaid adviser to him, Power resigned after she called then-rival Hillary Clinton “a monster.”