Politics

Krauthammer on Rice withdrawal: ‘The president’s vanity yielded to necessity’ [VIDEO]

Jeff Poor Media Reporter
Font Size:

On Thursday’s broadcast of “Special Report” on the Fox News Channel, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer said Susan Rice’s decision to withdraw from consideration to be the next secretary of state was a “necessity.”

Krauthammer also took a shot at President Barack Obama’s November 14 challenge for Rice’s critics to come after him.

“Well, this is one instance where the president’s vanity yielded to necessity,” Krauthammer said. “The defense of Susan Rice we saw, probably the worst defense of everybody since ‘Brutus is an honorable man,’ was simply himself getting carried away saying, ‘Don’t touch the little lady, I’ll defend her.’ And he sort of put himself out there as if this is a challenge to my authority, implying that he would have to nominate her. But cooler heads prevailed. Not sure whose they were. But clearly had she been nominated, the Benghazi scandal would have been on the front page.”

The Washington Post columnist went on to predict that with Rice out of the picture, the focus on Benghazi will die and Rice will ultimately take on the key role of national security adviser.

“And I think with her not being nominated, Benghazi scandal will die in the mainstream media. They will have no interest in this story. And that is why I think the president sought safety. I think he put himself out there. I think he would have rather had her, and feels he somehow had yielded, and her consolation I think will be he will make her national security adviser, which is a powerful position. It does not require the consent of the Senate. Remember Henry Kissinger in the first term for Nixon, where they did all this amazing stuff — he was the national security adviser, and then he became the secretary of state. So it could be even in theory and in history, it’s been a more powerful position than secretary of state, if the president wants it to be. And he might want it to be, in her case.”

Follow Jeff on Twitter