John Kerry

It hurts that they imply that Rice is more qualified when the test is just who Obama wants. It might be that he does not want a strong voice on the national security team other than himself and Biden, who he has not real choice on. Remember all the important issues. When you heard who pushed what side, Rice in most cases (though there as UN ambassador ) was never mentioned. All of us have seen Kerry and Biden in the SFRC - Kerry is FAR stronger and has a clear world view. Could he be TOO strong for Obama's liking. (With HRC fp was not her strong suit and there were MAJOR Democratic politics reasons for choosing her.) Putting Kerry as SOD also puts a capable man in a post that is not his strongest - and I suspect it may not happen. The worst scenario is that after fighting over Rice, he later nominates Kerry, and then gets him to withdraw over the protests that would happen on that and not on SOS.

One other possibility is that it may be Obama who is the root of both State and Justice being pretty non responsive to Congress.