Bid VP pick: Susan Rice, the diplomat and lightning rod

A former Obama White House official, Susan Rice, is a top candidate to be Joe Biden’s running mate. Even if she is not elected as the Vice Presidential candidate, she will likely be a key player if he wins. So who is she?

Speaking at a White House cocktail party shortly before Donald Trump entered, Susan Rice woke up. “You will miss us,” she tells a journalist.

Today, Ms Rice, the 55-year-old former national security adviser, is hoping for a return to power. She is on the shortlist of candidates to become the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate. If she is not elected vice president and Mr Biden wins the election, she could potentially become secretary of state.

Ms Rice’s name is being driven when Mr Biden is under increasing pressure to select not only a woman – which he has promised to do – but a black woman as running mate.

Senator Kamala Harris is often cited as a possibility, as are congressmen Karen Bass and Val Demings, Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, and Georgia mayoral candidate Stacey Abrams.

Ms Rice’s biography makes her look like a natural choice for a top lock. But she has never run for office, and some analysts are asking her if she is the best candidate for the ticket. They say they do not have the political chops needed to win a narrow election. They also ask her about the luggage she would bring to the race for the White House.

While working for Mr. Obama, Mrs. Rice became a lightning rod for controversy.

After US outposts in Benghazi, Libya, were attacked in September 2012, Ms Rice spoke about the melody on television, describing the attacks as “spontaneous violence” rather than as attacks organized by militant groups.

Ambassador J Christopher Stevens and three other U.S. citizens were killed in those attacks.

Republicans lied to her, criticized her comments on television and said she had misled the public about the nature of the attacks.

Ms Rice said she had given the public the information that was available to her and other White House officials at the time.

Almost a decade later, the controversy still haunts them. It could remain as liability for Democrats during the campaign.

A target for conservatives

Michael S Smith II, a terrorism analyst at Johns Hopkins University, says conservative people will think of Ms Rice’s remarks about Benghazi. These conservatives, he says, would use their remarks to show that Democrats, in their opinion, are dishonest about the threat posed by terrorist groups and that progressives are weak for national security.

Says Mr Smith: “She was the poster child for conservatives who said Obama lied to the public about threats posed by al-Qaeda” and other groups that have carried out attacks.

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Yet many Democrats believe she is the right person for the job of vice president and that she would add brilliance to the ticket. She worked with Mr Biden and other White House officials on the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and helped with U.S. efforts for the Paris Climate Agreement.

Under the leadership of Mr. Trump, the US has withdrawn from international agreements.

David Litt, a former speechwriter for the Obama White House and author of Democracy in One Book of Less, says the U.S. lost its status on the global stage because of Mr. Trump’s presidency.

“I can remember when our allies were crossing over with America, but I can not remember a time when allies threatened America,” Mr Litt said.

Mr. Litt is of the opinion that Ms Rice would be an excellent choice as vice president because of her experience in the global arena: she would be able to re-establish strong relations with US allies, he says, and would help “restore America’s place. in the world “.

Among the tens of thousands of leading candidates to become Mr Biden’s running mate, Mrs Rice has the strongest background in international affairs. At the age of 32, she became Assistant Secretary of State and later served as Ambassador to the United Nations.

Since leaving the White House, she has written a memoir, Tough Love, a story that tells her childhood in Washington and her life with her husband, Ian Cameron, a Canadian-born television producer, and two children. She also describes her family history: Her great-grandmother was born a slave, and part of her family was originally from Jamaica.

In her memoir, she said she did not have much interest in election politics for herself, declaring that she “did not have the patience or inclination to run for office and was not trying to compromise my principles”.

“Extraordinary poise”

Recently, however, she came up with the idea. During an interview on CBS This Morning, she said she would bring decades of experience in the executive department to the position of vice president. She helped during the time at the White House fight Ebola and other pandemics, she explained, saying she knows what diseases can do to individuals and society.

Describing the economic impact of the current pandemic, “I deeply understand the economic consequences for Americans who are suffering,” she said, adding that she understands how “suffering has disproportionately affected communities of color.”

She said her lack of experience as a candidate is less today because campaigning is being done “remotely”.

Still, it’s a hefty sequence: running for office is more personal – and somehow more difficult – than serving in office, say those who have done both.

Former Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights Tom Malinowski even made the transition to street-level politics. He is now a Democratic congressman from New Jersey. He met Ms Rice when they were both scientists from Rhodes in Oxford and says she has what it takes to win: “She has extraordinary poise and confidence and intelligence that counteracts in a real way.”

Mr Biden is expected to make his announcement in the coming days on a vice-presidential candidate. Ms Rice has the courage of her convictions. But the question remains: will she convince others that she is the right person for the ticket?