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President Nominates Kerry For Secretary Of State

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Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., is pictured on Thursday, leading a hearing on the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.  (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., is pictured on Thursday, leading a hearing on the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

President Barack Obama has nominated Massachusetts Democratic U.S. Senator John Kerry to succeed Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.

In remarks from the White House on Friday, the President spoke warmly of his longstanding friendship with Kerry, and added that Kerry "needs no on-the-job training."

Kerry is well-known in Washington and in capitals around the world. He's served on the Senate Foreign Relations committee for 27 years, and is likely to face an easy confirmation.

Kerry's departure from the Senate creates an open seat, and a chance for outgoing Massachusetts Republican U.S. Senator Scott Brown to return to the Senate.

This is the president's first cabinet nomination since winning re-election, in what is expected to be a major overhaul of his national security team.

And it comes just as negotiations over the fiscal cliff, now 10 days away, have completely stalled after House Republicans embarrassed their own leader, House Speaker John Boehner, by rejecting his plan to avert the financial crisis.

  • Bloomberg: Obama Said to Name Kerry as Nominee for Secretary of State

Guest:

  • Olivier Knox, White House correspondent for Yahoo News. He tweets @OKnox.

This segment aired on December 21, 2012.

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