Last week at her confirmation hearings in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Marco Rubio challenged Samantha Power for some of her previous comments and writings. Power is President Obama's choice to succeed Susan Rice as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
Power, a journalist and former human rights activist before she joined Obama's State Department in 2009, has made some critical remarks about U.S. foreign policy in the past. Last week Rubio challenged Power to cite examples of crimes "committed or sponsored" by the United States.
Her response was that "the United States is the greatest country on earth" and she "would never apologize for America."
Today Rubio said he wasn't satisfied with Power's answers, and will vote against her.
During the same Senate hearing last week, I also questioned Ms. Power about an article in which she referred to ‘crimes’ committed by the U.S. She failed to distance herself from these statements at the hearing and offered insufficient explanation, leaving me with serious concerns about some of her views. Her responses to both the need for UN reforms and her previous comments about the U.S. have been unsatisfactory for such an important role, which is why I oppose her nomination.”