She was never great -- but she is good.
Conservatives, with no evidence whatsoever, tried to make Rice into an emblem of black conservatism. They were disappointed.
She is probably no conservative, but neither is she a liberal. She's just a moral and sensible woman whose political beliefs are probably somewhat to the left of most of us but are not leftist.
She's worth listening to, but is not, probably, candidate material.
Brilliant woman, IMHO, and a product of her environment: on the downside, academic and internationalist with more of a belief in collective security than I believe justified by the record; on the upside a fierce believer in and defender of her country. She has agreed with you that political candidacy is not where she wants to go.