Hillary Clinton is a lame duck Secretary of State, presumably only because of her own desire to move along. Clinton, like virtually every public figure in transition, evokes the old saw about “spending time with family.” (Think what you will about the veracity of this desire.) When she does go, though, someone must take her place–a difficult job given the high regard in which she is generally held by the international community. Consider that no one even mentions Wikileaks these days, and it seems everyone who wants to play Benghazi blame game aims at Susan Rice. Oh, Susan Rice.
Susan Rice is an accomplished woman, possessing many of the qualities accomplished people customarily do–not least a strong head start. The rumor that she is among the candidates that President Obama is considering for State drives some people, like John McCain and at least 97 Representatives, nuts. The latest salvo in the campaign to discredit her candidacy is her financial interests, a consideration that seems odd considering the positions her conservative opponents usually espouse as goes personal wealth. Susan Rice is rich. She’s very rich. Like $40 million rich. She even owns the equivalent of futures in the Canadian pipeline every House Republican wants built yesterday–a potential conflict of interest that could be quickly voided upon any nomination. Rice may not be the right person for the job, but money shouldn’t be an issue. Condoleeza Rice had such lucrative ties to the oil industry that she had a tanker named for her. Colin Powell, according to Forbes, was worth $27 million more than a decade ago, when he told us Iraq was a credible threat. John Quincy Adams and John Foster Dulles were loaded. Hillary Clinton, by the way, is worth more than $30 million. And that doesn’t include the wealth held by members of her immediate family, with whom she’ll soon be spending more time.
