Obama Leaning Toward Selecting Susan Rice as Next Secretary of State: Report

If Rice was named secretary of state, could it signal the beginning of what some might call a 'mahogany cabinet'?

Should Secretary of State Hillary Clinton decide to step down to start running for president in 2016 focus her energy in a new direction, word on the street is President Barack Obama is leaning toward the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice.

Bloomberg.com is reporting that six current or former White House officials, who all spoke on condition of anonymity, said Rice remains close to the president and shares many of his views on foreign policy, making her a very likely successor.

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Former White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley and other officials said Obama will first need to pick someone to replace Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. He also may need to find successors to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk.

Thinking about a Rice selection for Secretary of State gets one to thinking about other choices the newly reelected president could make. Perhaps Obama should select Roland G. Fryer, the wunderkind economist who is the youngest African American ever to be awarded tenure at Harvard and a 2011 recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, for Geithner's Treasury Secretary position.

A possible replacement for Clapper as the head of National Intelligence? Maybe George Golliday, president of the National Association of African-Americans in the Department of Homeland Security; with Colin Powell for Defense Secretary and Jesse Jackson as the U.S. Trade Representative?

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Such speculation may be far-fetched. But selections of such a talented cadre of national leaders who happen to be of color could definitely make for what some might call a "mahogany cabinet."

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