Susan Rice says she could handle pandemic response: ‘I understand what disease can do’

Former White House national security adviser Susan Rice, a contender to be presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s running mate, said Tuesday that her diplomatic experience qualified her to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

“I understand what disease can do. I understand deeply the economic repercussions for Americans who are suffering enormously and how that suffering has disproportionately affected communities of color in this country, particularly African Americans and Latinos,” Rice said on “CBS This Morning.”

“So we have an enormous amount of work to do to come together, to tackle these challenges far more effectively and with a collective sense of purpose than what we have seen under Donald Trump’s leadership,” she added.

Rice served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 2009 to 2013 and as national security adviser to former President Obama from 2013 to 2017. During that period, the U.S. was responding to the H1N1 pandemic, the Zika virus and the 2014 Ebola outbreak in western Africa.

“What I would bring [as vice president] is almost 20 years of deep experience at the senior most ranks of the executive branch, getting things done for the American people, wrestling with crises and dealing with the solutions we need,” Rice told CBS.

“So that’s my background as national security adviser and many other roles that I’ve held and I think that’s very important given the nature of the crises a new administration would face from the pandemic to economic recession to our global leadership, which is suffering enormously,” she added.

Biden has pledged to name a woman as his running mate. Rice is one of several names reportedly on his shortlist, along with Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), as well as Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Rice told CBS she would “wholeheartedly” support any Democratic ticket.

“I will raise money, I will do the 21st century equivalent of licking envelopes. I’ll serve in whatever capacity that Vice President Biden thinks I can best serve,” she said.