Posted on 03/12/2005 4:43:56 PM PST by MadIvan
WASHINGTON is suddenly agog at the prospect of President Condi. A flurry of speculation about the political ambitions of Condoleezza Rice was ignited yesterday when the US secretary of state took a first step towards wooing conservative Republican voters.
Asked in a newspaper interview to comment on widespread speculation that she might stand as the Republican candidate for the White House in 2008, Rice not only declined to rule out a run; she went on to discuss an unusual subject for a secretary of state — the rights and wrongs of abortion.
Rice was careful to avoid any suggestion that she is actively planning a campaign. But Washington pundits seized on her unexpectedly ambivalent responses as evidence that a dream contest is materialising for 2008: Rice v Hillary Clinton, an all-woman battle for the most powerful job in the world.
When the subject was first broached by the Washington Times reporter, Rice replied with a brush-off. “I never wanted to run for anything,” she said. “I have enormous respect for people who do run for office. It’s really hard for me to imagine myself in that role.”
She was pressed on whether she was prepared to repeat the famous denial of General William T Sherman, who said in 1884: “If nominated, I will not run; if elected I will not serve.”
Rice replied with a chuckle: “That’s not fair . . . I really can’t imagine it.”
Had she stopped there, many in Washington might not have paid too much attention. But even though President George W Bush has barely begun his second term, Republicans are painfully aware that he has no obvious successor.
The race has begun for various senators and governors who are already nosing around New Hampshire — the scene of early voting — in the hope of staking a claim to Bush’s majority. The first thing they must do to impress conservative voters is establish their views on abortion.
In a striking departure from her preoccupations with the Middle East and Iran, Rice talked about how she approaches an “extremely difficult moral issue” as “a deeply religious person”.
Rice admitted to being “mildly pro-choice” (in favour of a woman’s right to choose) — a position that for some right-wing voters will disqualify her immediately. But she emphasised that abortion should be “as rare a circumstance as possible”. She also argued that the government should not pay for abortions “because I believe those who hold a strong moral view on the other side should not be forced to fund it”.
Rice insisted that her remarks should not be misinterpreted: “I’m not trying to be elected.” But they are certain to be seized on by an army of admirers who have established websites seeking a Rice candidacy in 2008. “Our lady’s got the buzz,” proclaimed the weblog CondiPundit.
Washington analysts have long been divided over Rice’s chances. Some Republicans argue that she should first return to California and challenge a Democratic senator to gain campaign experience. She had a chance to run for governor two years ago, but yielded to Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Her supporters see her as an American Margaret Thatcher, ready to confound convention and become America’s first woman president. Dick Morris, the former Bill Clinton aide who has become an outspoken critic of Hillary Clinton, recently argued that Rice had become a “Republican rock star . . . her every movement covered by an adoring media”.
Rice took Europe by storm on her recent tour. If she pulls off a breakthrough in the Middle East peace process, Morris argued, a Rice candidacy could destroy the Democratic party’s electoral chances.
Harder-nosed analysts suggest that her political inexperience is too big a drawback, especially when pitted against the masterful manoeuvring of the Clintons.
Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Centre for Politics, said that the two women were in different leagues. Compared with the Clinton steamroller, the Rice candidacy was “cotton candy fluff”, he said.
Yet Rice has one card up her sleeve. She is a close friend of the president, whose endorsement could prove decisive. Bush recently joked that “if I catch her thinking that way (about becoming president), I’m going to remind her that I picked her to be secretary of state”. If she does well he may need to promote her.
RINOs in the minority and they just can't stand it....
It is you RINOs who are seeking to fracture the party over ideological purity...we "extremists" were here first!
It's time to grow up and look beyond petty sexist differences.
She's done a wonderful job in positions of executive power.
Condi Rice has the best bead on the abortion issue I've seen articulated yet.
The *only* thing left for her to do is to remand the issue back to the states *after* she's been elected President and then selected as Chief Justice of Supreme Court.
The President no longer has a say on the issue. See to your Supreme Court and go after them on your single issue disqualification.
You'd prefer Gore to Bush as Bush's stance is farther pro-choice than Rice's.
Hell...so was Reagan's prior to his election.
Michael Dukakis had a bad ideology, Condi Rice does not have that ideology.
Hers is quite satisfactorily conservative.
Condoleeza Rice is more conservative than George W Bush...and that makes her a "far right" candidate with respect to his father.
Condi is smart but does not have all the components to be prez. For one she is single and has never really governed.
There may be back room deals being made but I don't think the American public are going to buy a woman as prez at this time.
Black, woman, Republican (in your liberal face, unique)
White, woman, liberal, former first lady.
If Rice is the best the party can do, or if those two are the best we can hope for, we're in big trouble.
Condi would DESTROY Hillary is they get into the ring together.
You think a person who has never run for any office would have a chance against a dirty trick master.
BTW, the man who was too lazy to fail was my favorite in time enough for love.
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