If she's serious about being president, she needs to get some experience in elected office and in an administrative office. IF she could be elected mayor of a large city or governor of a state, she'd be in a better position.
Another point is that Republicans generally don't support candidates who don't have "real world" experience. George W. and George H.W. Bush both had business experience in Texas before going into politics. Granted, each of them had help in business from family connections, but they still lived and worked in the real world for a while. Ronald Reagan had somewhat real world experience as an actor and as head of the actor's union. Admittedly, acting is not quite as "real world" as most jobs, but it was more of a real world job when Ronald Reagan started. I don't remember whether Richard Nixon ever had real world experience before running for Congress in California. Gerald Ford was an fluke. Ike Eisenhower was a general. Dr. Rice has an impressive resume, but she still doesn't have much experience outside government and academia. That omission hurts her as a candidate.
Bill
Another excellent post from you, Sir. : )