I recently finished reading "Tough Love" by Susan Rice. It was a slow read for me and I spent the entire month of July with it.
The more I read, the more I realized I didn't really have a clue as to who Susan was. I certainly heard lots about her, but that was all from Republicans beating the Benghazi dead horse to death and then into dust.
What is very clear is the Republicans didn't want her to be appointed Secretary of State.
The timing of my reading coincided with speculation on Biden's choice for a Vice President candidate.
Seems to me Susan would make an excellent Vice President. I don't believe anyone else comes close to her when it comes to foreign policy and national security experience and smarts.
I'm not lobbying for Susan to be Biden's pick, I'm just saying she would be an excellent selection. She would certainly be able to step up if something were to happen to Joe.
There's a lot in the book about Susan's family in general and Susan in particular. Susan is very proud of her family. Her parents were dedicated to public service.
Susan is a true patriot. She too is dedicated to public service. She would do nothing to bring shame on herself or, by extension, her family.
So yeah, if you want to learn everything there is to know about Susan, read this book.
Worth mentioning:
Susan may be the best informed person on the planet when it comes to Africa.
Susan was on Bill Clinton's National Security Council, she was Madeline Albright's Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, she was Barack Obama's Ambassador to the United Nations, and eventually Obama's National Security Advisor.
She was also a working mom with two children.
It's fair to say that Susan was an exceptional woman with exceptional friends. She excelled academically. She excelled in sports. She attended Stanford university on a Truman Scholarship. She earned her BA and graduated with honors from Stanford where she was also Phi Betta Kappa.
Susan attended Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship and earned Master and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. Her dissertation won the Chatham House - British International Studies Association award for the most distinguished doctoral dissertation in international relations.
Hey Susan even got to throw out the opening pitch for the Washington Nationals in 2013. Not too shabby!
Aside from learning about Susan, this book provides phenomenal insight into the Obama administration and policy.
Donald Trump and the Republican Party have brought nothing but chaos and ruination to our government, our country, our people, our allies and the world at large.
They are pushing our country into fascism while betraying our country in the interests of Vladimir Putin and the Russian kleptocracy.
To fully understand this, you need to understand what a political and legal aberration this administration has been.
Obama brought competence and order to a country on the verge of financial ruin.
He staffed his administration with intelligent, qualified and experienced people who functioned within a structure designed to identify, analyze and solve problems.
Susan lays out that structure and highlights that process in the second half of her book. Her book is really two separate books. The "other" book within her book provides a blueprint for a functioning government.
It's the perfect basis for contrasting what our government has devolved into under Trump. It's like a political EEG baseline.
The specifics are there when it comes to how the Obama administration responded to crises and planned in the event of future predictable crises.
The Obama administration dealt with the Ebola Virus epidemic and learned from it. Obama was concerned about future pandemics and created a structure to protect us from exactly what we are experiencing now - a structure which Trump and the Republicans methodically dismantled and eliminated.
The Obama administration worked to unite the world in an effort to mitigate and reverse global warming - Paris Climate Agreement - an agreement that Trump and the Republicans walked away from.
The Obama administration worked to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapon technology - Iran Nuclear Agreement - an agreement that Trump and the Republicans walked away from.
The Obama administration tried to keep pace with political turmoil and worked to mitigate regional political crises - the Arab Spring, the revolution in Syria, Russian aggression in Ukraine, North Korean aggression in general, turmoil in Afghanistan, Turkey, Pakistan and Iraq, the rise of ISIS, etc., etc., etc.
Susan details all of this. She also talks about working with our allies and strengthening those alliances - alliances which Trump and the Republicans have all but destroyed.
Susan provides analysis of our diplomatic dealing with Russia and China.
She explains the various security threats we are facing, including the continued Russian threat to our elections.
"Tough Love" puts the spotlight on the tough times we're going through. It's hard to know where we're going if we have no idea where we've been, where we started out from and what our goals were once upon a time.
The subtitle of this book is "My Story of the Things Worth Fighting For". This book is not about chaos, it's about the order that comes from working honestly with others on mutual problems. It's all about harmony and unity and leadership.
Holy Moly!
