Posted on 04/01/2006 5:56:26 PM PST by aculeus
The Dean of Blackburn is a holy man and, as such, is not generally touched by earthly desires. He has serious misgivings about the Iraq war. He is a sensible, mild-mannered sort of fellow, not given to unnecessary exaggeration. But that was yesterday. That was BC. Before Condoleezza.
"Oh, I thought she was charming," says the Very Rev Christopher Armstrong, reflecting on his hour-long meeting with the US Secretary of State in Blackburn Cathedral. He pauses. A playful half-smile curls his lips. His eyes glaze over slightly and gaze into the middle distance. It is as if he is recalling a particularly pleasing experience, such as winning the egg-and-spoon race at his primary school.
"She looks nice, she's interesting, she's very aware, very concerned, and she can handle the protesters so well. She knows other people's opinions are important and she values them."
A few hours earlier, Mr Armstrong had been declaiming the war in Iraq in forceful tones in front of the nation's media. Now, he appears to have undergone a quasi-religious conversion. But you can't blame him. This, it seems, is quite simply the Condi effect.
However much people might dislike the thought of Condoleezza Rice, 51, one of the key architects of the Iraq war, defender of Guantanamo Bay and staunch ally of George Bush, it seems that they cannot help but be won over by the reality.
Over the past couple of days, as she has been shown round Blackburn, Lancashire, by her new best friend, Jack Straw, she has encountered hostility almost everywhere.
Twenty-five per cent of Blackburn inhabitants are Asian and most of them are Muslims. At Pleckgate School on Friday, more than 100 schoolchildren gathered in vocal protest.
Roger McGough, the prominent poet, pulled out of an appearance at a Liverpool Philharmonic concert. At Blackburn Cathedral, Ms Rice was greeted by cries of "fascist" from a crazy-eyed protester wrapped up in a plastic mackintosh.
Hundreds marched to Blackburn town hall dressed in orange boiler suits and screamed at her as she arrived for a press conference. Yet Ms Rice greeted it all with a red-lipsticked smile and a heady wallop of fragrance that seems to have left grown men powerless in her wake.
In her presence, the normally buttoned-up Mr Straw alternated between looking like a proud father bringing his daughter into the office for work experience and an adolescent schoolboy with a hopeless crush on the head girl.
Winston Churchill, that great proponent of the special relationship, once said that he wooed F D Roosevelt "as a man might woo a maid".
But, surely, presenting Ms Rice with a Blackburn Rovers football shirt and giggling softly at her witticisms was going a bit too far? What must Mrs Straw make of having a third person in their marriage? "Er… no comment," says a constituency office spokesman.
Why does Ms Rice hold this strange, intoxicating power? It could be her triumph over adversity - her success has been all the more remarkable given that she was born into the segregated American south in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1954.
It could be her blameless Presbyterian upbringing (her father was a minister in the local church), and her associated Protestant work ethic - she famously gets up at 4am to put herself through a gruelling physical work-out wherever she is in the world.
It could be her formidable intelligence - she enrolled at the University of Denver aged 15, she has read War And Peace twice (in the original Russian), and in 1993, still shy of 40, she became the first woman and the first African-American to be appointed provost of Stanford University. As if that weren't enough, she also trained as a concert pianist.
Or it could simply be the way she looks. Over the past week, male journalists have written lyrically about her "lacquered hair" and her well-tailored trouser suits: a pretty mauve number for her first date with the Foreign Secretary on Friday and a more sober black outfit for yesterday.
It was pointed out that her name was derived from a musical expression: con dolcezza, meaning "with sweetness". Even her appearance on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, normally the bloodiest of gladiatorial arenas for unpopular politicians, was marked by a curious - and unusually lengthy - tenderness.
Although this is the UK's first experience of Condimania, the Condi effect has long been in evidence in her home country. Her considerable gifts have Washington buzzing about the possibility of the first black, female president.
Laura Bush publicly said earlier this year that she'd "love to see her run. She's terrific". Even her political opponents cannot help but like her.
Other significant cheerleaders include Bill Morris, a political strategist and a former close adviser to Bill Clinton who has now turned against the Democrats. His thesis, as propounded in his recent book, Condi vs Hillary: The Next Great Presidential Race, is that the only possible Republican candidate who could defeat Hillary Clinton if she runs would be Ms Rice.
Nor is her closeness to male politicians - and the accompanying regard in which they hold her - reserved to British cabinet members. Jacques Chirac is an admirer. And when George Bush attended a press conference with Ms Rice in March 2003 to talk about the Iraq war, he apparently refused to go into the more unsavoury details of the Iraqi rape camps set up by Saddam Hussein's sons, Uday and Qusay, because he "didn't want to say them in front of Condi".
The unmarried Secretary of State returned the compliment a year later when, at a dinner party, she accidentally referred to the President as "my husb…", before cutting herself short.
This dogged affection for the most powerful woman in the free world extends to the US Condi fan club and its "Condistas" - Republican activists eager to "draft" Ms Rice into the 2008 presidential race.
Baseball caps and T-shirts emblazoned with "Condi" can be bought off their internet site. Condistas like to think that their heroine's assertion that she is not interested in the presidency is poppycock. They joke, not entirely originally, that "denial" is a river in Egypt.
Back in soggy Blackburn, even those who had gathered to protest about the war found themselves going weak at the knees. "I was against the war, but I think she's wonderful," gushed Stephen Walsh, 47, a human resources consultant, who had wrestled himself to the front of the security cordon outside Blackburn town hall in the hope of catching a glimpse.
"She's a fantastic role model when you think about the background she came from. Of course, she's very fanciable as well. I think it's the power thing. She's an attractive woman, and that's not just about the way she looks."
It was not only the men who were awestruck (although Mrs Walsh had sensibly decided to go shopping and, presumably like Mrs Straw, simply leave her husband to it).
Kerry Dayton, 46, a housewife who has lived in Blackburn all her life, was also admiring of more practical considerations. "She always looks nicely turned out and professional," she says.
"I want to ask her how she gets her hair to stay so smooth. Mine always goes frizzy in the rain. Hers was lovely and straight when she walked into the town hall."
It was, in the end, simply another example of Condoleezza Rice defying the odds. No wonder all the world is smitten.
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Bill Morris? Guess he meant Dick Morris.
.How come she's not married?
What has that got to do with anything?
Saving Western civilization goes a bit farther than garden variety 'earthly desires'.
This 'holy' man should certainly relinquish his post in the Christian church if he is willing to buckle under to the demands of Islamofacism.
Where would she have found the time - or anyone that could stand her equal?
She does have a 'male friend' but keeps it in the background. I don't believe she feels the need to prove anything to anyone.
I am wondering if there isn't a chance she may run - she just turned down the Baseball Commissioners job - something she always said was her life long dream. It's a position that comes along rarely - probably not again in a time frame for her. So - maybe???
?But - hey - was this a great piece! And in a British newspaper? Whoa! Those Brits have now learned a lot about this woman's amazing background...that'll make 'em sit up and take notice.
Ah, if only Queen Elizabeth I were alive to fuly explain the dedication to higher princlipes which motivate some through a sense of duty.
"Sit down.....tell me more."
NNo matter what Condi's future ambitions, or the pros/cons of a candidacy, one thing is worth noting. Condi has IT, Hillary does not.
If Hillary had an ounce of the intellect, talent, strength, articulation, charm, graciousness and principle that Condi exudes she might well be the first woman President.
I can only imagine how bitter Hillary must be everytime she chances to run into her. Basically Condi has everything Hill has ever wanted, she didn't have to marry Bill to get there, AND even though she could run for Prez herself and be a serious contender? May not even want to.
That last must bother her the most. That another woman has what Hill needs to win the W.H., and doesn't seem driven to grab the "prize". Wouldn't doubt if a part of her despises Condi in some ways more than she despises G.W.B. Ditto her reaction to Laura, because Laura has proven a more effective First Lady than Hill ever was.
Minus policy discussion, IMO, Condi is the type of woman America envisions as it's first woman President. Not Hillary. Now of course Liberals envision someone like Condi, with liberal idealogy at the core. And conservatives envision a Condi/Thatcher with conservative idealogy at core....but the inteligence, personality traits etc...she possesses are the package they are looking to carry these idealogies forward.
because Laura has proven a more effective First Lady than Hill ever was.
Only because Hillary had Senate in her mind. Laura acts like the Kennedy First Lady just pretty. I think that is what First Ladies should do just look pretty and Laura does it right. There is a big difference between having a lawyer for a first lady and a librarian. Laura fits the First Lady role perfectly. Hillary just had bigger goals. Not that either is right or wrong.
because Laura has proven a more effective First Lady than Hill ever was.
Only because Hillary had Senate in her mind. Laura acts like the Kennedy First Lady just pretty. I think that is what First Ladies should do just look pretty and Laura does it right. There is a big difference between having a lawyer for a first lady and a librarian. Laura fits the First Lady role perfectly. Hillary just had bigger goals. Not that either is right or wrong.
Hillary didn't have the Senate in mind, she believed she was the co-President. She tried to govern as a co-President, and got swatted down by the American people.
Frankly running for the Senate was probably considered a step beneath her. But it's all that was left to her, short of a Governorship unavailable at the time, to attempt to redeem a political career because she wished another shot at being President. Since the co-Presidency bit didn't sit well with Americans.
As to laura, she does more than act pretty. Oh, the role of First Lady traditionally and, imo, by acceptance of the American people isn't to be too overtly political. However, as First lady she has other roles that range from setting the theme of hosted events to representing this country diplomatically to visiting with fallen soldiers or encouraging and helping develop America's youth whether in promotion of education or physical education etc.. She's more than a pretty picture on the President's arm. Perhaps her duties aren't as glamorous, but nor are they without respect.
Nor do I think her being a librarian in another period has much to do with anything, except perhaps her interest in education and reading. The characteristics she possesses would be evident, still, if she was a surgeon, cashier, or Senator. Just as Hillary's traits would follow her no matter which profession she was animated to pursue.
You mean NFL Commissioner.
When I first became aware of Condi, I pegged her as just another affirmative action quota. I couldn't have been more wrong.
About the only thing we know for sure about her views is that she's pro-abortion.
No thanks.
bttt
I sympathize with your concern, but don't let your one-issueness blind you silly. We know damn well AND FOR SURE that she's PRO-AMERICAN, ANTI-TERRORIST and PRO-GUNRIGHTS.
"I am a 2nd Amendment absolutist!" -- Condoleezza RiceIf the choice is between Condi and Hillary would you remain so stubborn as to sit the election out?
bump
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