Sins venal and cardinal

The Republican effort to block UN Ambassador Susan Rice from becoming Secretary of State is unseemly at best.  Not because Susan is without fault.  She should not have uncritically used talking points from the intelligence community–does she not remember what those jokers did to embarrass Secretary of State Powell with talking points about biological weapons in Iraq?  And she should have known better than to put forward a narrative about the Benghazi attack that lacked verisimilitude. A simple statement that we were still investigating what happened and would report to the American people as soon as we reached definitive conclusions would have sufficed, even in the heat of the election campaign.

The truth is there are still uncertainties.  How many attackers were there and what weapons did they use?  Why were at least some of the consulate guard force unarmed?  Was it wise for the Ambassador to go to the safe haven?  Why did he leave it?  How did he get separated from his security detail?  We won’t likely have a complete picture until the Accountability Review Board reports, if then.

But Susan’s sins were venal, soon forgotten if not forgiven in the rush of Washington events.  Anyone with serious responsibilities will make a few of these boo-boos per week.  The Senate Republicans are committing cardinal sins:  not by trying to block a nominee, but by doing it for blatant political advantage (gluttony, greed, wrath, envy).

They want John Kerry to become Secretary of State, so they get another crack at a Massachusetts Senate seat.  They could be in for a nasty surprise there:  Elizabeth Warren beat Scott Brown by 8 percentage points.  But the Democrats will not want to take the risk.  They may well think Chuck Hagel or Jon Huntsman, either of whom would make a good Secretary of State.  President Obama would enjoy nominating someone Republicans think of as a RINO (Republican in name only).  They won’t be able to oppose him.   The two I’ve mentioned are all too clearly qualified, and former senators to boot. Honor among you-know-whats.

The irony is that today Susan Rice will like suffer a defeat today at the United Nations General Assembly, which will confer on Palestine the status of non-member state (like the Vatican).  Unless there are last-minute changes that allow the United States and Israel to vote in favor, it will pass easily over their objections.  Few in Congress will criticize her for this.  So long as we do what Israel wants, there is no domestic political risk.

But the foreign policy merits of the case, depending on the specific wording, may well point in the direction of abstention or even a vote in favor.  General Assembly resolutions are like preseason football games.  They may be well played, but they don’t count in the standings.  Palestine doesn’t become a state because of a General Assembly vote.  It is already recognized as such by about 130 countries, which is good enough reason for the United States to hesitate to allow itself a defeat on Palestine becoming a non-member state.  Without a positive recommendation by the Security Council, it cannot become a UNGA member, which is the gold token of sovereignty.  And Palestine, though in some ways a state, lacks a vital attribute of sovereignty:  fixed borders and a monopoly over the legitimate means of violence.

Be that as it may, I prefer to remember Susan not for today’s defeat but rather for her yeoman efforts and real success in gaining UNSC approval for protection of civilians in Libya and for sanctions on Iran and Syria.  Those were real diplomatic achievements.  It is a cardinal sin to forget them.

PS:  I admit Jon Stewart said some of this better, though he missed the part about John Kerry: