Condi Rice Not a VP Candidate
As a conservative minority female, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has been a potential political dream candidate to some; however, she hasn’t particularly impressed the general public in her tenure as Secretary of State and as National Security Adviser (edited by MvdG).
Further, Ms. Rice says that she’s not interested in running on the Republican ticket as the vice-presidential candidate:
“I have always said that the one thing that I have not seen myself doing is running for elected office in the United States,” she said at a news conference
…
“I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing as secretary of State to see if we can use the last few months, as the president has put it, to sprint to the finish because there’s a lot of work to do”
If she were to engage in the electoral process, Condi might find it tough sledding: She’s also been accused of being a lesbian by the National Enquirer and other paper and online tabloids on the presumption that such a label would kill her political career.
Ironically she’s also been attacked by liberals for being a gay woman in the “fascist” Bush administration. She can’t win, it seems, though one can hardly hold the failures of the Bush administration wholly against her.
It’s difficult to make the case for Rice as a leading political figure of our time. Nevertheless, she is certainly the equal - even on a bad day - of Mr. Barack Obama, albeit one without the glowing oratory and gleaming smile.
Um, Marc, she’s never been Secretary of Defense. She’s been National Security Advisor and Secretary of State.
I am guessing you are not a Condi Rice fan. About a year ago I thought Rice would have made a good Presidential candidate, then she became increasingly embroiled in courting Arab support to the detriment of Israel. So I crossed out the Presidential thinking.
If Hillary makes a come back and wins the Dem nomination, I think Rice would be a good counter as a VP. However I think her connection to Bush in abandoning the original Bush doctrine has hurt her politically. I think she is going to fade back into Academics where she is more comfortable anyway.
Lesbian? I just don’t see it.
Marc- If Condi doesn’t have the charisma or oratory abilities of an Obama, that diminishes her abilities as equal to him as a candidate. The reason Obama is catching fire in the first place is that he’s seen as a total break from the policies of the Bush administration. She would be dragged down by her association with him and by her dismal performance as NSA during his first term. I’m not questioning her brilliance- I just think that people like Rice and Wolfowitz belong in academia- not in the real world.
Condi Rice would be one very powerful foil to an Obama/Clinton ticket, and would satisfy the heir apparent needs of the Republican party, IF she was interested