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| Susan Rice to remain UN ambassador as her career ambitions take a hit | Susan Rice to remain UN ambassador as her career ambitions take a hit |
| (4 months later) | |
| Susan Rice's decision to withdraw from the running to replace Hillary Clinton as America's next top diplomat has brought an abrupt halt to one of the most upwardly mobile careers in US politics. | Susan Rice's decision to withdraw from the running to replace Hillary Clinton as America's next top diplomat has brought an abrupt halt to one of the most upwardly mobile careers in US politics. |
| Born to an elite Washington family and educated at one of the capital's finest schools, the 48-year-old Rice has rarely if ever stumbled in her rapid progress through the corridors of power. | Born to an elite Washington family and educated at one of the capital's finest schools, the 48-year-old Rice has rarely if ever stumbled in her rapid progress through the corridors of power. |
| While she will now remain in her post as the US ambassador to the United Nations it is hard to see where Rice can go from there after the Republicans successfully scuppered her bid to become secretary of state. She is an insider in Barack Obama's administration, and her career path was tied to his second term. Now she finds herself becalmed in her current job. | While she will now remain in her post as the US ambassador to the United Nations it is hard to see where Rice can go from there after the Republicans successfully scuppered her bid to become secretary of state. She is an insider in Barack Obama's administration, and her career path was tied to his second term. Now she finds herself becalmed in her current job. |
| The brutal opposition to her appointment, led by the implacable Senator John McCain, will be seen by a few Democratic pundits as based on dislike of a powerful black woman. But many others will see it as the result of a career-long reputation for blunt speaking and aggression, not least famously insulting McCain – a former Vietnam prisoner of war – for wearing a flak jacket on a visit to an Iraqi market. | The brutal opposition to her appointment, led by the implacable Senator John McCain, will be seen by a few Democratic pundits as based on dislike of a powerful black woman. But many others will see it as the result of a career-long reputation for blunt speaking and aggression, not least famously insulting McCain – a former Vietnam prisoner of war – for wearing a flak jacket on a visit to an Iraqi market. |
| Despite the breadth of the opposition to her appointment, however, the reversal in Rice's fortunes is still a shock for a figure who has previously shown a remarkable ability to rise unerringly through the ranks. | Despite the breadth of the opposition to her appointment, however, the reversal in Rice's fortunes is still a shock for a figure who has previously shown a remarkable ability to rise unerringly through the ranks. |
| The Rhodes scholar, mentored by family friend Madeline Albright, first rose to prominence as an Africa and peacekeeping expert on Bill Clinton's National Security Council in the 1990s. Then she jumped to the State Department in 1997 under Albright where she became one of the youngest ever assistant secretaries of state, ruffling the feathers of many, older Africa hands who resented her youth and firm belief in her own ideas. | The Rhodes scholar, mentored by family friend Madeline Albright, first rose to prominence as an Africa and peacekeeping expert on Bill Clinton's National Security Council in the 1990s. Then she jumped to the State Department in 1997 under Albright where she became one of the youngest ever assistant secretaries of state, ruffling the feathers of many, older Africa hands who resented her youth and firm belief in her own ideas. |
| While there Rice dealt with serious crises, such as the 1998 terrorist bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, before securing various posts in the world of think tanks, like the Brookings Institution, in the 2000s. She also became a foreign policy adviser to the 2004 doomed bid for the White House by Senator John Kerry – the man likely to head up State instead of her. | While there Rice dealt with serious crises, such as the 1998 terrorist bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, before securing various posts in the world of think tanks, like the Brookings Institution, in the 2000s. She also became a foreign policy adviser to the 2004 doomed bid for the White House by Senator John Kerry – the man likely to head up State instead of her. |
| As Obama began to lay the groundwork for his 2008 run for office Rice surprised many who saw her as part of the Hillary Clinton camp in the Democratic party by rallying to his banner early on. She joined his campaign as a foreign policy adviser. That move was seen by some on the Clinton side as a kind of betrayal, and though relations between the two women have been professional and successful since Obama's victory, few see their relationship as overly warm. | As Obama began to lay the groundwork for his 2008 run for office Rice surprised many who saw her as part of the Hillary Clinton camp in the Democratic party by rallying to his banner early on. She joined his campaign as a foreign policy adviser. That move was seen by some on the Clinton side as a kind of betrayal, and though relations between the two women have been professional and successful since Obama's victory, few see their relationship as overly warm. |
| Indeed were Clinton's oft-touted run for the White House in 2016 to emerge as a victorious reality, few would predict a guaranteed slot for Rice in such a future administration. | Indeed were Clinton's oft-touted run for the White House in 2016 to emerge as a victorious reality, few would predict a guaranteed slot for Rice in such a future administration. |
| So, while keeping her top position at the UN hardly counts as a disaster for anyone engaged in global diplomacy, for Rice it now represents a body blow to her ambitions. For someone whose whole career has driven so relentlessly forward, treading water can feel like a major reverse. | So, while keeping her top position at the UN hardly counts as a disaster for anyone engaged in global diplomacy, for Rice it now represents a body blow to her ambitions. For someone whose whole career has driven so relentlessly forward, treading water can feel like a major reverse. |
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