"I have a dream" fulfilled

[Zipper]

Easy. He is front and center as far as publicity. He's popular with a large segment of their society. And he has charm and presence (something Rice has little of), and could talk his way out of almost anything.

 

[a_majoor]

Mr Smith is a Hollywood actor, so however much "personal" charm and presence he may have, I would guess the Will Smith you see on TV is mostly contrived by his publicist to give him max exposure and the choice of roles in movie projects. What he actually thinks about topics like Social Security reform, Syria, or alternative energy is a mystery to you, me and the general public.

Dr Rice comes across as a peron with a great deal of presence, watching her face down the Democratic "Rat Pack" of senators during her confirmation hearing (Full, coherent and detailed replies, quoting facts and figures without notes) was one of the more impressive "live fire" demonstrations I have seen (one of the other ones was Gen Lewis Macenzie casually crushing hostile lawyers during the Somalia Inquiry).

I am giving serious consideration to running for Mayor in my home town of London, given the appaling performance of the City Council and Mayor over the last two years, mostly because I want to say the things that need saying. I suspect I will come across as charismatic as an enraged pit bull, but as a home owner who has absorbed a 13% cumulative property tax hike in two years and is being told to expect another 9% next year, I've got motivation.

 

[Zipper]

I sure you will be. Property taxes anywhere are not fun. I'm not sure of the percentage, but I think Edmonton is not far behind in how the city council likes to grab that money from our pockets. But then again our roads suck, lousy bus service, etc.

No comment on whether Mr. Smith (hee hee) is even good for the job. Just that he has stated he may do so one day.

But whatever. Whoever runs down there is of no concern to me. Even though for a republican, I respected Powell a great deal.

 

[muskrat89]

Seems our RCA friends have a chip on their collective shoulders

I have lived in the United States for almost 15 years. On a practical level, the US had offered far more opportunities to me, both in rural Maine, and Phoenix (now the 5th largest city in the US). On the other hand, I have not yet taken my US Citizenship because philisophically, I have a hard time letting go of my Canadian Citizenship. I am proud of my heritage. I live here mostly because of some very severe health issues, with my wife.

I grow very weary of all of the "experts" on this board that pontificate about life in the US, based only on what they have read on the internet, or heard on the news. If our American members were making these broad, matter-of-fact statements about Canada, based on the same inputs - most of you would be all over them for it. I have the same "chip" when I partake of discussions with anti-hunters who have never been in the woods, or when my wife advises me on home improvement jobs....

 

[TCBF]

A gold mine!  Is this thread ever a hoot!  OK..

1. Al: run for mayor, and throw the damn tea into the harbour!

2. Sigpig: Am I to understand that a retired Strat is living in FLORIDA?  Think I might just send out 600 emails when I get to work on Monday.  Don't bother seeding your lawn just yet.  You might get a severe case of squaters next month.

3.  Pride and predjudice:  Intollerance is relative. Think we will ever see a Griz hunting, gun owning, Calgary oilman as PM?  Nope.  Think Canadians would vote for a Jewish PM?  No way of finding out: the Libs would say "He ain't Quebecable!" and be out of the leadership race on the first ballot.  I would have loved to have had Barney Danson as PM (so would most of you guys in the Queens Own), but his party wouldn't allow such a thing. 

We have our own problems in Canada., we should be a little less smug in our opinions of others.

Tom

 

[Acorn]

I think many of you would be surprised how deep bigotry and racism runs in the US. It's often difficult to see unless you experience it. Are you aware that (at least until recently, not sure if it's still so) in several NE US states one had to declare race for school registration? One or another - bi-racial was not an acceptable answer. That's not the deep south, that's Michigan.

Don't wear a flag on your lapel? Must be a commie or something. Don't go to church? Godless!

Anyway, you have to live it and see it to get the picture.

Don't get me wrong, I actually like Americans (I married one). I think Colin Powell would be a better President than Condi Rice though (hell, either is better than any of the other offerings I've seen) but he isn't aggressive enough for the neo-cons. Maybe it's because so many of the latter haven't had to personally suffer the effects of war and Powell has. That, however is a digression.

Unfortunately, I don't think US politics has reached the point where it can accept either at this point, and I don't see it changing in time for the next election. Maybe the one after that.

Acorn

 

[Infanteer]

Acorn, I agree with what you say (I've got family connections as well).

I can remember checking into a hotel in the US with my Father.   A young black couple was infront of us and was told that unless they supplied a credit card that they would not be able to get a room.   Dejected, the couple left to continue searching for a place to stay.   When we came up, my Father paid cash and was never once asked about supplying a credit card.

Does this mean that Americans are inherently racist?   Of course not.   It did, however, prove to me that being an ignorant bigot isn't confined to goof-balls running around with white sheets on.

I guarantee you that things like this will happen in Canada from time to time - although I am willing to bet not as frequently; I remember one political commentary noting that while American political discord revolves around Race, Canadian discord revolves around Region.   I think there is a bit of truth to this....

 

[I_am_John_Galt]

What amazes me is the free pass given by the 'liberal' media to the likes of Robert "Sheets" Byrd ... I suspect that the real problem is avoiding confronting racism when it is inconvenient ... I don't suppose the reluctance to address his past (including his voting record) have anything to do with his affliation with the Donkey party ... it's the Republinazis that are a bunch of racists, right?

Many schools and institutions in Canada and the US still ask for racial heritage in order to "encourage diversity" or to "help" those that are "disadvantaged because of race, national or ethnic origin, colour," etc. (the last one is from our Constitution): we have been told to understand that somehow the idea that someone might be disadvantaged because of their ethnic origin is not racist in today's P.C. society.

 

[a_majoor]

It seems the good Dr has publicly forsworn running for president in 2008.

http://powerlineblog.com/

Easy Come, Easy Go

Condoleezza Rice was on Meet the Press this morning, and Tim Russert noted the internet boomlet in support of her running for President. He pressed Rice on her intentions, and she repeated, about as definitively as possible, that she "will not run for president of the United States". So it's goodbye, I suppose, to americansforrice.com, et al. Maybe there's a market for recycled bumper stickers.

Rice's disavowal of Presidential ambitions probably means that she intends to stay on as Secretary of State through President Bush's second term, which wouldn't be possible if she were to begin a full-time Presidential campaign next year. It's noteworthy, though, that she didn't say anything about not wanting to be Vice-President. So maybe there's an outside chance that her prediction--"I don't think I will be president of the United States ever"--might not prove to be true.

 

[a_majoor]

Dr Rice is back in the news (a bit) with a new and very unscientific poll suggesting she is by far the first choice of Republican voters. http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/000861.html

The comments alone are priceless.  My favorite:

"Condi's main appeal to me is the great pleasure I would derive night after night listening to the likes of Donna Brazile explain why she, Condi, is neither Black nor a woman!"

Wow, another four years of leftist rage and insanity. Sign me up! Go Condi!

 

[a_majoor]

The movement to draft a qualified candidate continues in the United States (Perhaps a double header could be arranged: Dr Rice and Dr Ignatieff meeting at a summit as respective leaders of their nations?)

Bringing Back the Draft
â Å“Who the hellâ ? are all these Condi Rice people?

Those embittered 2004 John Kerry supporters had it right: A movement is afoot to bring back the draft. Only it's a different draft than the one they were fixated on. The comeback has to do with luring reluctant presidential candidates into the 2008 horserace.

The last real draft movement to take a private citizen to the White House was inspired by Dwight Eisenhower in 1952. After Eisenhower's historic military career, a groundswell of support emerged for him to run for president. But even then, it took Republican emissaries traveling to his NATO headquarters near Paris to convince Eisenhower to run. It could even be said that George Washington was â Å“draftedâ ? into becoming our nation's first president. Recent candidates, such as Wesley Clark, have been less reluctantly "drafted." But it's a practice that is usually not necessary as ambitious politicians are not exactly a rare commodity. Nonetheless, still more than three years out from the next presidential election several draft organizations are already at work on behalf of figures including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Condoleezza Rice, Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Senator Russ Feingold, and others. And a select few have real muscle and money behind them.

The first 2008 draft group to get attention was Amend for Arnold, which formed before last year's election. Their stated goal is to change the U.S. Constitution so that naturalized citizens like Schwarzenegger can serve in the nation's highest post. Amend for Arnold recently broadened its reach to include Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, but Schwarzenegger remains their more immediate focus.

Amend for Arnold co-founder Lissa Morgan Thaler-Jones tells NRO that the group has at least temporarily changed focus to Schwarzenegger's initiative drive and pushing him towards reelection. â Å“My opinion is that he will run if Maria says yes,â ? Thaler-Jones said. â Å“At the same time, we have volunteers in all 50 states. A lot of people have called from outside states wanting to hold rallies on behalf of Arnold's July 30th birthday.â ? A freelancing political novice, Thaler-Jones meets with state officials and fundraises on behalf of Schwarzeneggar's agenda, independent of the governor and the Republican party.

Despite her commitment to a Schwarzenegger White House run, Thaler-Jones seems to understand that the scenario isn't happening in time for 2008. Meanwhile, another draft is at work with multiple groups organizing in support of a run by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Rice has never sought elected office and brushes off speculation about a 2008 run. However, U.S. News and World Report's Washington Whispers recently reported an unnamed associate of Rice's saying she could be drawn into running under the right conditions.

The Wal-Mart Grassroots
Americans for Rice was founded shortly after the 2004 election by a group of relative political newcomers. The group's co-chair Richard Mason tells NRO his group has roughly 3,000 registered members and 35 â Å“coreâ ? members. Their stated goal is to register Rice as a Republican on as many state primary ballots as quickly as possible. â Å“To get her on as a Republican in primary states will show this is a serious draft effort,â ? Mason said.

With their own money and volunteered time the group has already raised nearly $20,000 selling t-shirts and bumper stickers. â Å“We're very lucky amateurs,â ? Mason said. In fact, Mason's first encounter with political exposure caught him and his wife off guard. Mason had placed a Rice bumper sticker on his car before shopping at a local Wal-Mart in Miami. When Mason and his wife returned to their car, they found about a dozen people standing around it. â Å“My wife pointed them out to me and my first thought was, 'Oh no, what happened to the car?' So, we got store security to escort us out. But when we got there, the group of people standing around my car wanted to know how they could get Condi 2008 bumper stickers.â ? Mason paused before declaring, â ?I don't think you'd ever get that kind of response from a Bill Frist sticker.â ?

Another website, Rice2008.com functions more as a business than a campaign-in-waiting, raising Rice's profile through the sale of assorted Rice merchandise. Website founder Matthew Reid tells NRO that Rice's experience puts her above the field, â Å“but she also has empathy, credibility, and believability as well as a compelling personal story to tell. She possesses the intricate knowledge of a policy wonk who can effectively communicate complicated matters with average Americans.â ? Reid says his website members are â Å“prepared to 'activate' on a grassroots level on a moment's notice.â ?

The funding for Americans for Rice goes to pay for radio ads and producing more Condoleezza Rice merchandise. Group volunteers like co-Chair Crystal Dueker pay for travel and work expenses out of their own pockets. Dueker has put her full-time job in North Dakota on hold while spending thousands traveling the country in her Mini Cooper all in support of an undeclared candidate. As testament to their sincerity the group will attend events in North Carolina, Las Vegas, and Florida in the next few months alone.

Dueker says she was drawn to support Rice because of her experience in foreign affairs along with the lack of a clear GOP frontrunner. â Å“If Dick Cheney were running, I would support him. He has the most qualifications. But since he is not running, that leaves Condi as the most qualified candidate. Diplomacy. Her work in Iraq, Afghanistan and even Kuwait has made dramatic improvements already. Condi's fingerprints are all over that.â ?

Mason describes Rice as something of a fusion candidate: one with conservative principles and the ability to win friends across the globe while satisfying American interests.

â Å“This is really a chance for Republicans to change perceptions of the party both at home and globally. The Washington insider knows Republicans have a much more diverse roster than they get credit for. But for the casual political observer, this could change everything. People like Dr. Rice are the future of the party,â ? Mason said.

Mason insists his group is a collection of neophytes that started with nothing to lose. But should Secretary of State Rice allow herself to be drafted into pursuing the nation's highest office she might want to consider drafting Americans for Rice into her effort. At a recent event, Bill Frist was scheduled to speak before a group of Republican constituents. Outside the speaker's hall volunteers set up a table and distributed Rice 2008 polo t-shirts. More than enough were purchased to catch the Majority Leader's eye. Mason seemed mildly embarrassed telling the story. â Å“None of us wanted to distract Dr. Frist. We all like him and respect his views. But we heard he didn't want his picture taken or reported that he walked past a table of Condi supporters before walking into his own event. So, instead of coming in through the front entrance, they had him walk into the room through the kitchen. He told his staff he wanted to know 'who the hell all those Condoleezza Rice people were.'â ?

â ” Eric Pfeiffer writes the daily political "Buzz" column on NRO.
 
http://www.nationalreview.com/pfeiffer/pfeiffer200507140807.asp

 

[a_majoor]

Another case of peering into the future:

http://www.nationalreview.com/interrogatory/morris200510130831.asp

What do the Americans on this board think of this analysis? Is Senator Clinton such a polarizing figure, and is Dr Rice so compelling that she will carry the vote the way these people believe?

 

[a_majoor]

More tea leafs from the First Lady, who may be hinting Dr Rice should/will run after all. The comments in this blog are to die fror; the "liberal" posters are accusing the Republicans of being racist and sexist on a Conservative/Republican board which seems to be fully supportive of Dr Rice!

http://althouse.blogspot.com/2006/01/she-says-she-definitely-is-not-running.html

"She says she definitely is not running. I'd love to see her run, she's terrific."
Ooh! Laura Bush said that about Condoleezza Rice. So, then, Condi's running! Right?

IN THE COMMENTS: A pseudonymous Condi hater makes a racist slur, and after I delete it, makes it again, in the middle of the night, so that I don't see it to delete it for a few hours. When I do delete it, I write:

I suspect Democrats who fear the strength of a Rice Presidency have a stake in making Republicans fear that racism will sink her. Who are these people who are willing to slink about and type racist slurs in the hope that conservatives will stay in touch with racist feelings some moronic liberals assume surely lurk in their hearts? Or is it just a relief to finally find a way to express their own racism? Be careful, Condi opponents, we will be closely monitoring your racism. Though possibly not in the middle of the night!

I note the possibility that the commenter in question is not a Condi hater but is only posing as one to make people who actually oppose her look bad.
posted by Ann Althouse at 3:32 PM   

If Dick Cheney steps down for health reasons and Dr Rice is appointed VP (is this possible in American law?) as suggested by some posters, who would be her running mate in '08?

 

[clasper]

If Dick Cheney steps down for health reasons and Dr Rice is appointed VP (is this possible in American law?) as suggested by some posters, who would be her running mate in '08?

An appointed VP must be confirmed by Congress, but I can't see that as anything other than a rubber stamp in this case.  As for possible running mates, the only name that's out there as a presidential contender for the Republicans at the moment is McCain.  A Rice-McCain ticket (or for that matter, a McCain-Rice ticket) would draw a huge number of voters from both sides of the aisle.  The neo-cons wouldn't be terribly happy, but that would be offset by the large number of traditional Democrat-voters who are just looking for some common sense leadership.  The neo-cons couldn't hammer on them too hard anyway, since Rice is a bit of a hawk, and McCain has the war hero thing going for him (Hanoi Hilton Veterans for Truth... hmmm... maybe not).  The Republican party is pretty polarized over McCain, but in a national election, I think the electorate would be far less polarized than the last couple of elections (unless of course Hillary is running for the Dems- but that's a different story).  The big question for me (and this is all just speculation) is: can they work together?  McCain isn't too fond of Bush (and vice versa), but what is his relationship with her like?

If Rice wasn't looking for a foil to compliment her deficiencies, and instead is looking for a stunt double as a running mate (the Clinton-Gore theory of tickets), then I'm at a bit of a loss to come up with a realistic guess.  She may end up taking advice from Bush père and plucking some relative unknown to run with her.  Hopefully she would come up with someone a little better suited than Dan Quayle, but I think she would need someone with a strong history of winning elections (since she hasn't won any) to join her.

It's going to be interesting watching the fallout from the mid-term elections.  The Democrats believe they have some traction and the Republicans are on the ropes- whether that translates into victories or not remains to be seen, but one side is going to be pretty disappointed come November.

 

[a_majoor]

I find this topic very interesting since Dr Rice isn't a professional politician, and has the real world experience to handle a job like President of the United States. While I don't know Dr Rice except by reputation, the idea she would pick or allow herself to be saddled by a "stunt double" VP seems fairly absurd.

She has not been very forthcoming about her views on domestic issues (although in fairness, this isn't part of her ambit as National Security Adviser or Secretary of State), so a "domestic" VP would probably be a an asset should she run. (In the case of a McCain/Rice ticket she would be the foreign affairs VP). American members of the board are probably better informed on this.

 

[muskrat89]

FWIW, McCain has stated more than once in recent months that he ahs no interest in running as a VP for anybody...

 

[a_majoor]

Dr Rice is back in the news as an attractive chooice for the GOP in 2012. If she really is interested, I beleive she would have to be elected to Congress in 2010 to become eligable for the Presidency.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/21/news/economy/condoleezza_rice_gop.fortune/

Condi: The should-be face of the GOP
She's smart. She's experienced. She's worldly. Republican strategists worried about their party's future should take heed.

Rarely has D.C. wielded so much power over business, and never have so many women been calling the shots. We've ranked the 10 with the most impact excluding just one -- Michelle Obama -- who exercises her own brand of influence.

WASHINGTON (Fortune) -- Successful candidates follow a simple fundamental rule: Define yourself before your opponent can define you. The Republican Party, which mustered a thumbs-up from only 38% of voters in last week's Bloomberg poll, sorely needs to brush up on the very rule it counsels in candidate-training sessions.

To skeptics in search of a political home, the GOP's image has devolved into that of a minority collection of name-calling, "no"-saying, backward-looking, talk-show bullying cranks -- a definition gleefully perpetuated by Democratic pols. So next time the eloquent and elegant figure of Condoleezza Rice strides onto a stage, GOP strategists worried about their party's future should pull out their notebooks.

I interviewed Rice onstage last week on the closing day of Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit, where she achieved a star-turn -- and did so while mounting a vigorous defense of former President Bush's oft-vilified foreign policy, and delivering a pointed critique of President Obama and congressional Democrats.

After praising President Obama and his team as "patriots who are going to try to do what's best for the country," she nevertheless warned about letting down our guard against another terrorist attack. "I am grateful -- I don't say proud, just 'grateful' -- that there wasn't another attack over the past eight years," she said. "But every day terrorists plot and plan to try to attack us. They only have to be right once. We have to be right 100% of the time. But I know, too, that can only happen because men and women in uniform are fighting on the front lines."

She offered sharp words for Democrats in Congress who want President Obama to begin making plans to pull out of Afghanistan, a war that is becoming increasingly unpopular with the American public.

"The last time we left Afghanistan, and we abandoned Pakistan," she said, "that territory became the very territory on which Al Qaeda trained and attacked us on September 11th. So our national security interests are very much tied up in not letting Afghanistan fail again and become a safe haven for terrorists.

"It's that simple," she declared, "if you want another terrorist attack in the U.S., abandon Afghanistan."

Rice acknowledged flaws in Afghanistan's recent elections but quickly inserted an addendum bolstered by her personal credentials: "Our democracy wasn't so perfect at the beginning either. My ancestors were three-fifths of a man. My father tried to vote in 1952. You couldn't guarantee voting rights for blacks in the South until 1965 with the Voting Rights Act. So don't tell me these people can't get it right because their democracies are struggling."

That said, Rice stressed the importance of setting "goals" in Afghanistan and bringing civilians in alongside troops -- as both administrations have done -- to pursue reconstruction and development in local communities. That strategy was late in coming to Iraq, she conceded.

On Iran, Rice tactfully questioned the Obama strategy of engaging the Tehran regime in direct talks about its nuclear program. "I don't have any problems with engaging bad guys. We did our share of it," she recalled. "The problem is that engagement is a tactic not a strategy. You have to ask yourself what the end is. When you go into the room with an adversary, you had better have sticks in your bag as well as carrots."

Obama officials, she warned, will be speaking to leaders not likely to survive the current internal political turmoil. "The Iranian regime is vulnerable right now," she declared, "I don't know whether it's a year from now or five years from now, but that regime is done. It has split the clerics...It has made [the brutal post-election crackdown] the formative political memory" of young people, who make up 70% of the population, she added.

Rice is mostly known as George W. Bush's Secretary of State. But she is also a concert pianist who once dueled with Yo-Yo Ma and played solo for the Queen of England; a Russian scholar and football fanatic who once listed NFL commissioner as her dream job; a black woman who grew up in the segregated South and is now something of a rock star among the 'tween girl set. (She plans to edit a version of her book about her parents for young girls.)

In other words, her appeal is broad. Onstage, Rice sounds alarms about the threat of terrorism while still sounding reasonable. She offers compassion for women in oppressive societies while hard-headedly tying their plight to America's national security. "I think that societies that treat women badly are dangerous societies," she insists.

Rice is not the only woman counter-acting the GOP's narrow image these days. All the unflattering attention paid to Sarah Palin has overshadowed the likes of former eBay (EBAY, Fortune 500) chief Meg Whitman running for governor of California, Maine Senator Olympia Snowe gamely trying to broker a health care deal in Congress, and that other Cheney -- Liz -- relentlessly making the case for a vigorous "war on terror" to TV and radio audiences.

Rice quashed rumors of a 2008 presidential run and who knows whether she'll reconsider after she decides to move on from grading papers at Stanford. As Bush's national security adviser at the launch of the Iraq War, she will never appeal to hardcore Democrats. But to those millions of independents and soft Republicans who pulled Obama over the top in last year's election -- a familiar brand of voter at this Fortune gathering -- Rice has allure.

At the end of our interview, as I stood to shake Rice's hand, I glanced over my shoulder at this audience of women-CEO's and senior business and government leaders, media opinion-makers and entertainment stars, ground-breaking academics and committed philanthropists. It was an audience I knew, first-hand, viewed the Bush administration with doubts and, in some cases, outright hostility. So what I saw was telling.

Every single woman in that San Diego hotel ballroom was on her feet-giving Condi Rice a standing ovation.