On the merits, I tend to think Rice is so talented she’ll be great at any portfolio she gets. And given that she’s been part of Obama’s foreign-policy inner circle for nearly two years, it can be assumed fairly that Obama intends to return the U.N. to a position of centricity in U.S. foreign affairs. That’s, in my opinion, a very good thing for both the U.S. and for global security.
From an organization-chart perspective, it’ll be interesting to see if Obama returns the U.N. ambassadorship to the cabinet-level rank that it enjoyed in the Clinton administration. If so, quite a resume point on a woman so young and with such a bright and near-guaranteed future in the U.S. foreign-policy establishment.