Like most people, I would prefer to see President Obama nominate Secretary of Education Arne Duncan for secretary of state (and if not Duncan, then Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood), but if this doesn't come to pass, it seems to me that Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (the "embattled" U.N. ambassador, in journalese), stands a decent chance of being very good in the job. Rice wouldn't be the best nominee -- the best candidates seldom, if ever, get nominated (William J. Burns, the current deputy secretary of state, would do very well in the No. 1 job, as would Nicholas Burns, the former undersecretary of state for political affairs -- really, anyone named Burns would do).
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