Revenge is a dish best served cold. Except when it's best served hot.

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 Sen. 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.