Even if Samantha Power’s nomination as U.S. ambassador to the UN is not blocked by the Senate, I don’t expect we’ll hear her reassert her view that a resolution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict will require an imposed solution, including the use of a “mammoth protection force,” or that the U.S. should stop spending billions supporting Israel’s military forces but should instead be investing the same amounts in a Palestinian state. But, what seems certain is that the following clip from a 2002 interview will be reappearing on lots of Zionist websites and that the Israel lobby will kick into high gear to oppose her nomination. Unless, that is, their failure to block Chuck Hagel’s nomination as Defense Secretary has led organizations such as the Emergency Committee for Israel to adopt some tactical changes.

Maybe the White House figures that its opponents will reserve all their venom for Susan Rice, and thus allow Powers to take up office without strong opposition.

Jeffrey Goldberg writes: Just a few months ago, Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and now President Barack Obama’s choice to be the next national security adviser, saw her main chance to become secretary of state dissipate before her eyes, as Senate Republicans (with John McCain and Lindsey Graham in the lead) excoriated her for, as they saw it, misleading the public about the attacks on the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last year. (My thoughts about the attacks on Rice can be found here.)

Rice was forced to withdraw her name, and Senator John Kerry was awarded the job. Now Rice will be, in effect, Kerry’s supervisor. McCain and Graham, by turning Rice into the scapegoat of the Benghazi debacle, have inadvertently allowed the president to bring her into the innermost ring of power, in a role that requires no Senate confirmation.