Does Susan Rice Lack Important Leadership Skills?

As Breitbart News reported earlier, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice has maintained that her remarks regarding the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi were based on information provided her by the intelligence community.

On September 16^th, Rice repeatedly made the statement that the attacks were due to a spontaneous demonstration in response to a You-Tube video, despite the fact that her comments contradicted information from the FBI, former CIA director David Petraeus, and the National Counterterrorism Center. The question is, with so much counter-information regarding the attacks, which led to the deaths of a U.S. ambassador and three diplomatic officials, does Rice, who could be the next Secretary of State, not possess the critical thinking skills to be able to render better judgments?

“When discussing the attacks against our facilities in Benghazi, I relied solely and squarely on the information provided to me by the intelligence community,” Rice told reporters Wednesday.

How could Rice rely “solely and squarely” on information from the “intelligence community,” when then-CIA Director Petraeus personally held the discrepant opinion that Al Qaeda was involved in the attack? If Rice is indeed telling the truth, then did it not occur to her that it would appear odd, at best, that four U.S. diplomats would be killed over an obscure web movie? Didn’t it appear odd, at best, that the CIA Director did not have the same opinion as whatever “intelligence community” sources Rice used? Did it not occur to RIce that she should check multiple sources of information to ensure the statements she was about to make on national news were, in fact, accurate?

Critical thinking skills are information-processing abilities that permit an individual to evaluate information and use it to guide decision-making. These are skills that most Americans would expect advisors to the President of the United States to possess. It appears that either Susan Rice does not have these skills, or, perhaps, the administration she works for knew she would put aside her own better judgments to do their bidding instead.

If Susan Rice did, in fact, personally disagree with the statements she was asked to present to the nation on September 16^th, then, without any additional information from her about how she came to make her comments, it is logical to conclude that she agreed to provide the “video” reason for the attacks because she was acting in obedience to the Obama administration. In that case, Susan Rice may be a woman who is dependent upon the administration, without confidence in her own critical thinking skills.

Either way, lacking in critical thinking skills or dependent on the Obama administration, it seems prudent to be guarded about Rice’s leadership abilities.