The US Senate confirmed Samantha Power as ambassador to the UN on Thursday, giving bipartisan approval to US President Barack Obama’s nominee.
The genocide expert and human rights champion sailed through on a 87 to 10 vote.
Power, 42, replaces Susan Rice, whom Obama named in June to be his national security advisor.
Rice became a lightning rod for criticism against the Obama administration last year. She left under a cloud for her role in the administration’s public explanation for the deadly attack on the US mission in Libya on Sept. 11 last year that left four Americans dead, including ambassador Chris Stevens.
Power, a Harvard Law School graduate and former special assistant to Obama, enjoyed widespread support during the confirmation process as someone who would be an effective and eloquent advocate for US interests.
Obama issued a statement thanking the Senate for its bipartisan support of “one of our country’s leading foreign policy thinkers.”
“As a long-time champion of human rights and dignity, she will be a fierce advocate for universal rights, fundamental freedoms and US national interests,” he said.
During her Senate hearing, Power berated the UN’s “unacceptable bias” against Israel, and pledged to lobby hard to get the US’ closest Mideast ally a seat on the UN Security Council.
She came under criticism for a number of remarks she made a decade ago, including speaking of “crimes committed” by the US government.
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