[Feyerick:] One of the big decisions President Obama must make is who will replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The frontrunner seems to be Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice, but Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, well, his name is also floating around. There's even talk of Michael Bloomberg, the New York City mayor or Bill Clinton. Dana Milbank is a "Washington Post" columnist and Dana, the president is standing firm by Rice. We remember the stern words that he gave against the senators who were targeting her. Take a listen.
[Barack Obama, President Of The United States Of America:] For them to go after the U.N. ambassador who had nothing to do with Benghazi and was simply making a presentation based on intelligence she had received and to besmirch her reputation is outrageous.
[Feyerick:] Since then a couple of other senators besides McCain and Graham have spoken out saying Rice misled the public on what happened in Benghazi when the American ambassador and three others were killed in the attack in September. The real question here is can she be confirmed? Not just because of Benghazi, but because of her whole body of work as the United Nations ambassador?
[Dana Milbank, Political Columnist, "the Washington Post":] Well, she does have an unusually large number of enemies on Capitol Hill because of things that have happened in the past, certainly John McCain because of the campaign, but others that she has antagonized along the way. But what's interesting here is the more Republicans are pushing back on this, it puts the president in a position of perhaps he wasn't going to nominate her before, but it's almost like he can't back down from the fight now and he needs to spend his political capital on this fight. So the others are probably having the reverse effect of that which they are intending. If the president wants to put up a fight, he can get her confirmed by the Senate. The question is, is that what he wants to spend his political capital on?
[Feyerick:] Absolutely. You know, one of the things I see this play out, some of the senators are really punishing President Obama for winning in part because they believe that Rice lied to make it seem less than it really was leading up to the election. Floating Senator Kerry's name out there, he is supported by a lot of the same people attacking Rice. Is there political gamesmanship going on right here?
[Milbank:] There certainly could be some element of that going on. I think there is some particularly in McCain's position a great deal of history there with Susan Rice. It is interesting that they want to make this stand on again Benghazi because there were, indeed, problems, things to be probed about what actually occurred over there in Libya. But the idea of going after her and disqualifying her for secretary of state because she read out talking points on a Sunday talk show is kind of a difficult argument to make.
[Feyerick:] And I think that's what the majority of the public has sort of trouble reconciling, which is, look, when news is breaking, everybody sort of goes with what they've got and then has to readapt it. Why there's so much anger against her is confusing to a lot of people. All right, Dana Milbank, always nice to have you on with us. Thanks so much.
[Milbank:] My pleasure.
[Feyerick:] Well, in Japan frantic rescue attempts after a tunnel collapsed on several cars. We have the latest details. And tonight it's "CNN Heroes, An All-Star Tribute." In a few minutes, we'll meet a past winner and hear why he became a national celebrity in his home country after winning the award.