Obama and strong women

First, there was his mother, a bit unconventional but smart and determined.   Then there is Michelle.

Both Susan Rice and Samantha Power have been important members of Obama's foreign policy advisory team from the beginning.  Each ran into a patch of political trouble that interfered with their ability to be confirmed by the senate, Rice as Secretary of State and Power before a specific position was even defined.

An important member of his foreign policy advisory team during his first campaign, Samantha Power was set for an important position in the administration.  But she made an unfortunate remark about then-competing-candidate Hillary Clinton while visiting Ireland on a book tour, and it became necessary for her to resign.   She rejoined the team after the election in the position of Senior Adviser, while also becoming a Harvard professor and publishing a Pulitzer Prize winning book on genocide and world affairs.   She has also worked with Hillary in the State Department.

Susan Rice also has an impressive background both in the Brookings Institute and in the Clinton administration, serving on the National Security Council and in the State Department.   She has served as Obama's Ambassador to the United Nations since 2009.  Rice was the expected replacement for Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State until that fateful Sunday morning when Rice was the voice of the administration on Sunday morning talk shows to give a preliminary explanation of what had just happened in Benghazi, which Republicans are still trying to use against her and Obama.   It derailed her appointment as SoS.

Now President Obama has announced Rice's appointment as the next National Security Adviser and Power's appointment as Ambassador to the United Nations.

Good for him for recognizing extraordinary talent in strong women and, instead of booting them out when they ruffle the political waters, biding his time and then finding alternate positions to make use of their knowledge and talents.

In addition, two of the three nominations he has made to fill three vacancies on the D. C. Court of Appeals are women.

Ralph