One reads Madeleine Albright’s reaction to Susan Rice’s withdrawal from consideration as the next secretary of state and thinks, so what if she “loves Washington”?  The answer, on reflection, is … everything.   

L’affair Rice is the repeat of a strange Washington ritual, which calls for the public humiliation of some strong personality for the scoring of political points, in a game which only insiders understand or care about.  The condemned is forced to come face to face with a team of inquisitors – usually in one of the Senate hearing rooms – and answer a lot of insensitive questions without squirming or telling the interrogators to take a hike.  It happened to John Bolton a few years back and everyone felt purified afterwards.  There are, no doubt, lots of people in Washington who are disappointed that Ms. Rice has deprived them of the spectacle. Just a letter to the president saying, essentially, take my name off the list.  A letter that she knew, one way or another, that the president wanted her to write.