The New York Times claims that Barack Obama will announce his national security team tomorrow, which will include Clinton at State, Gates at Defense, Jones at NSA, Napolitano at Homeland Security, and Holder at Justice. I hold out hope that former Admiral Blair will also be named and made National Intelligence Director. However, another member of Barack Obama's cabinet will be Dr. Susan Rice. A longtime foreign policy adviser to PEBO, Susan Rice will be the U.N. Ambassador, and that Barack Obama will restore it to a cabinet-level position!
This is a big change from John Bolton, a one-time U.N. Ambassador who despised the U.N. and only got the job through a recess appointment to avoid a contentious confirmation hearing. Susan Rice is very far from the neo-conservative, and she proved her mettle as a representative for PEBO during both the primary and the general election campaign. Politico, along with many other news outlets, considered her one of the best surrogates of the season. Given her already impressive background in foreign policy and diplomatic affairs, she was a shoe-in for U.N. Ambassador.
Also, by returning the post to a cabinet-level position, Barack Obama will have another capable individual to offer insight, perspective, and advise. Indeed, so long as the U.N. Ambassador is able to work on the same page as the rest of the team, there is no need to put such a powerful position under the authority of the State Department. This was a wise move, done previously by Bill Clinton with some guy named little-known guy named "Bill Richardson"(maybe you heard of him!). With Gates, Clinton, Jones, Napolitano, Holder, and hopefully Admiral Blair, Susan Rice will nicely round out a powerful and big-tent national security team for the United States of America. Congratulations to Susan Rice!