Posted on 02/15/2005 4:54:06 AM PST by section9
BY HELEN KENNEDY
New York Daily News
WASHINGTON - (KRT) - President Condi?
Political speculation starts earlier and earlier these days, but it's particularly strong now as President Bush starts his second term without the usual clear successor.
Condoleezza Rice - one of Bush's most trusted advisers and now as newly minted secretary of state, arguably the most powerful woman in the world - is setting GOP hearts aflutter in the wake of her boffo first foreign trip.
Already, many are starting to dream of a Condi Rice-Hillary Clinton smackdown in `08.
"That's how we get our jollies in this town," said Stephen Hess, senior presidential scholar at the Brookings Institution.
Rice's whirlwind trip last week to Europe and the Middle East, where she attempted to mend fences with the French and Germans and reached out to the Palestinians, made her an instant international star.
Continental columnists gushed over her "impeccable grooming," with the French newspaper Liberation commenting that she dresses the way she negotiates - "seductive, but also no nonsense."
"When has the United States been represented by a very attractive, very articulate, very forceful black woman?" Hess asked. "And when the other fellow looks like (Jacques) Chirac or (Ariel) Sharon, wow, who are you going to look at? This is visual dynamite."
There are at least two Draft-Rice groups, one of which recently set itself up as a 527 group to accept donations and says it has an organizer in all 50 states.
"I just think she's great," said Shari Demers, New Hampshire chairwoman of Americans For Rice, who says she's getting 15 calls a day from people who want to sign up.
"She could really unite this country as far as between the races and between the parties," Demers said.
"I know Hillary's going to run, and it's very difficult for a man to run a campaign against a woman. So how perfect - Condi vs. Hillary."
Fans trade rumors that Vice President Dick Cheney may step down soon to make way for Rice, who could get a jump on the campaign by starting in the White House.
But it's not just grass-roots fans or political junkies. Some of the same buzz is coming from inside the White House, too.
A senior Bush administration official called Rice "a rising star" and termed her efforts in the Middle East "legacy building - and not just for President Bush."
Putting peace in the Middle East on one's resume means "your name goes to the top of the list," the official said.
Rice laughed off the notion of running for president when asked about the draft movement by BBC interviewer David Frost last week.
"Oh my goodness," she said. "I think no one should count on such things."
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PRO:
_She's one of Bush's closest friends and he would put his powerful machine behind her.
_She will become one of the best-known women in the world over the next four years.
_National security is a key issue to voters since Sept. 11, so she can play off her experience as national security adviser.
_She could make inroads into the black vote and among single women, constituencies without which Democrats cannot get elected.
_Her life story, growing up in the South under Jim Crow the daughter of teachers, giving up a career as a pianist for foreign affairs and becoming Stanford's youngest provost, is dream material for a campaign.
CON:
_She's not a great stump speaker and has no experience in running for office. First-time office-seekers who shoot for the White House generally get eaten alive.
_She's "mildly" pro-choice, pro-affirmative action and hasn't taken a position on gay marriage. Republican primary voters won't like it.
_She may prefer to be NFL commissioner, which she has often called her dream job.
_The GOP may not be ready to nominate a black woman - all the black women in national offices are Democrats.
_Her refusal to admit any mistakes in the months before Sept. 11 and the war in Iraq could make her candidacy a referendum on Bush's foreign policy.
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OTHER FEMALE LEADERS
Major democratically elected female leaders in recent history:
India's Indira Gandhi - often traveled with her widower father, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and knew all the political players. Elected to parliament in 1964, the year he died. Two years after that, she became India's first and only female prime minister, a position she held until 1977. She returned to office in 1980 and was assassinated in 1984.
Israel's Golda Meir - was an activist in the labor and Zionist movements for more than three decades before Israel's founding in 1948. She served as foreign minister from 1956 to 1965 and was elected Israel's first and only female prime minister in 1969. She served until her retirement in 1974.
Britain's Margaret Thatcher - was the country's first female prime minister, and the longest serving, from 1979 to 1990. The Iron Lady rose up the old-fashioned way: She was elected to the House of Commons in 1953 and held several key ministerial posts before taking control of the Conservative Party - and the government - in 1979.
The Philippines' Corazon Aquino - was a housewife until her husband, political leader Benigno Aquino, was assassinated in 1983. She took up the fight against U.S.-backed dictator Ferdinand Marcos and won in 1986. Marcos and his infamous wife, the shoe-loving Imelda, tried to hold on to power but a popular uprising finally ended their decades-long reign.
I really like the work they appear to be doing over at "AFR". They have already turned it into an FEC 527, and it appears to be growing rapidly. How rapidly I cannot say. However, their website has that telltale fanboy look, to use an old anime term. I'm sure as time goes by, the site will butch up.
Be Seeing You,
Chris
Let's all blame Karl Rove--it will get the DUmmies to blow a gasket.
Someone isn't doing anything to dampen any speculation, and they are doing so for a reason.
Why should they? It's gotta annoy Boxer, Kerry, Kennedy & Co. That's seems reason enough to me.
Thank you for posting this. I personally think she'd be ideal, for all the reasons in the article and those from the two previous posters!
The real indicator will be....
When Cheney steps down for health reasons and Condi is appointed VP.
Chris--good article, thanks.
Condi works for me in '08. Definitely a rising Republican star.
Nice that she gets to work with world leaders now--good Prez prep.
Yeaahhh yeaaah Catfight!
Please let's allow Dr. Rice to do her job she has just been appointed to over a hard-fought battle with the nags.
She will not let the party down - and they might want to concentrate on the next election candidate who Dr. Rice can serve ably.
As much as I like her, I think there are too many "ifs" about a Presidential opportunity at this time.
As for Hillary - I feel the same.
I am female so it isn't a gender issue, it is the two women in question. Honestly I feel neither is up for President.
Didn't I read a rumor on FR yesterday that said President Bush has now nicknamed her "44"?
Yeah, that's been banging around Blogland for about a week now, so I thought I would post it yesterday. Got a pretty good reaction, especially given the fact that it is Bush, apparently, who has given Condi the nickname.
Be Seeing You,
Chris
Dr. Rice IS now the face of America before the world. No other nation may produce a phenomenon even remotely similar to her. Brilliant, articulate, poised, and simply an attractive human being to boot, she is also tested and proven in ways that few people are ever called upon to deal with.
Without actually saying so, several Senators called Dr. Rice a liar, a charge which obeyed the old dictum, "She's rubber, you're glue, bounce off her, stick to you." One has to respect the old-fashioned racism of Senator Robert Byrd, who never seems to have regretted the use of the "n-word". While that word would NEVER squeeze past the lips of Senators Kennedy, Boxer or Dayton, they were surely thinking it. Even Joe Biden was overweening in his efforts to show how "tolerant" he was. And he ended up trashing her anyway.
No respect. Just no respect. I believe the term is "dissing"?
"Daddy, I'm barred out of there [the WH] now because of the color of my skin, but one day I'll be in that house." -- 10 year-old Condi "Little Star" Rice (when voting by black people wasn't even protected)
Anyone that doesn't think she wants to be POTUS is utterly clueless. She believes that her parents can see her achieve all the things they dreamed she could achieve. She wants it for them as much for herself. She feels an obligation to succeed to the highest pinnacles possible. She feels she honors her parents by achieving greatness.
Well dude... I ain't clueless and I ain't never heard her utter a word about POTUS.
If, when, she states so... I'll listen to her stand on the issues... just like every other 'clueless' conservative.
That's one hateful old bastard!
She's being coy. She knows it charms the socks off people. She was carefully taught to charm the socks off people. It's not accidental at all. Her parents and aunts and uncles wanted the Rice kids to succeed in the white man's world.
"Little ole me? President? Why, I'd rather be NFL Commissioner. [giggle]"
Johnny7 has a point. Her demographic and electoral positioning is perfect going into any campaign, but as Reagan and Bush the Younger taught us, it is issues that carry conservative political campaigns to victories. Yes, Condi may want to be POTUS, and may believe (as I think she does) that playing the cards close to the vest is the proper path for her at the beginning of her time at State. However, if she is to be the Margaret Thatcher of our time, she must recall that Mrs. T. carried the Tories to a majority on the backs of a clear Manifesto that not only critiqued the bankrupt government of Old Labour but offered conservatism in its stead.
I do not believe that an individual as ideologically conservative as Dr. Rice, especially one who has an understanding of gun rights so firmly grounded in a constitutional understanding of the 2nd Amendment, would run a campaign based on "Vote for Me 'Cause I'm Black!". I believe that we would be surprised at her concious attempt to emulate Thatcher and Reagan.
One thing she can't avoid-the Life issue. The Republican Party is a Pro-Life Party. She has to get right with the Party on this issue, period, or she ain't going anywhere. That's just the bottom line. Thing is, we don't know how her thinking has evolved in the past three years.
Be Seeing You,
Chris
Why is the "Senators can't get elected President" rule never applied to Comrade Hillary?
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