Susan Rice, the American ambassador to the U.N. who was expected to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, just withdrew her name from consideration because a ton of Republican Senators thought she mishandled the Benghazi terror attacks and probably weren't going to let up about it anytime soon. Obama accepted her decision.
"If nominated, I am now convinced that the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive and costly - to you and to our most pressing national and international priorities," Rice wrote in a letter to President Obama released Thursday afternoon by NBC News. "That trade-off is simply not worth it to our country ... Therefore, I respectfully request that you no longer consider my candidacy at this time," she added.
Obama probably isn't too happy about this; in his first press conference after the election, he said (c/o The Atlantic Wire):
If Senator McCain and Senator Graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me. And I'm happy to have that discussion with them. But 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 that she had received and to besmirch her reputation is outrageous.
She'll keep her job at the United Nations.
Reuters has her full resignation letter.