Current Quarter Expenses.
Posted on 11/19/2011 5:15:31 PM PST by neverdem
Candy Crowley, host of CNN’s “State of the Union,” interviewed former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice before the 2011 Women Working for Change Conference about her new book “No Higher Honor,” the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and politics at National Harbor near Washington, D.C. on Friday.
Between questions about history and policy Rice had some advice for those attempting to find their path to success. According to the former secretary of state, people should first find what they love to do and dedicate themselves to it.
Rice recalled how her parents, when she was growing up in segregated Alabama, would tell her that she needed to be twice as good — Rice said that should apply even outside of a racial paradigm.
“They meant [twice as good] in a racial context but I think ‘you have to be twice as good’ is not bad advice for anybody because if you are constantly striving to be twice as good, you’ll work really really hard,” she said. “I think it is important to have people in your life who will take an interest in you and your career and help guide you.”
Rice then explained her philosophy on role models.
“I know we sometimes say you had to have role models who look like you, well I don’t really believe that. If I had been looking for a black, female, Soviet specialist role model, I’d still be looking,” she said. “Also my role models are actually white men — as a matter of fact, old white men, because that is what my field was dominated by.”
She added that women and minorities should try to steer clear of quickly crying “sexism” or “racism,” advising that they give people “the benefit of the doubt.”
“I think it is extremely important, particularly if you are a female or a minority, not to assume the worst in people. Give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe they just don’t like what you are saying. Maybe they just don’t like you. Maybe it doesn’t have to do with your race or gender,” she said. “And if you are constantly referring to race or gender as the reason you are treated badly, then you are just going to burn yourself out.”
Beyond Rice’s life lessons, the former secretary of state under George W. Bush again defended the administration’s decisions to go into Iraq and Afghanistan, noting the lessons learned from Sept. 11, 2001.
“We got rid of one of the biggest threats,” Rice said regarding Saddam Hussein and the decision to invade Iraq.
“Also, with all due respect to those wanted to save the Libyans from Muammar Gadhafi, and I am glad they did — but he threatened his people. Saddam Hussein put 400,000 of his own people in mass graves. Where is the humanitarian outrage about that?” Rice asked. “So those who believed there was a humanitarian reason for overthrowing Gadhafi, was there not a humanitarian reason for overthrowing Saddam Hussein?”
Rice further asserted that she believes that America can still complete the mission in Afghanistan.
Crowley asked Rice how history will remember the administration and its controversial foreign policy decisions, such as the use of enhanced interrogation.
“I think what history will say about that whole complex of instruments and tools is that the President of the United States protected the country under enormous threats, he did it in accordance with our laws, and in accordance with our values,” Rice said, adding that overtime as America learned more about the enemy there was not as much need to use some of the more controversial information gathering tools.
“They will say that [Bush] left his next president, President Barack Obama, an infrastructure that allowed finally — and I am very grateful to Barack Obama — to kill Osama Bin Laden, to continue the war on terror on the basis of what was put in place, and I think the historians will understand that we were in a different kind of war and we needed different tools.”
Rice added that she does not plan to go back into public service, but instead continue her work as a professor at Stanford — adding that it was a professor who got her involved in policy work as a Soviet studies specialist.
“There is nothing better being a university professor,” she said. “You have these great students you get to help see a world that they might otherwise not see. It was a professor who helped me see that I wanted to be –of all things– a Soviet specialist,” noting that as an young African American from Birmingham, Ala. she did not fit what most would think to be a Soviet specialist.
The 66th secretary of state also had some harsh words for people who assume all African-Americans should be Democrats.
“Nobody needs to tell me how to be black. I’ve been black it all my life. So I often say to people, if you think you know what I think because I have black skin, that says a lot about your prejudice, because you would not look at somebody with white skin and think you know what they think,” she said.
“So the people who want to criticize black conservatives or black Republican, first of all they generally don’t know us and the wide variety of views that we hold,” Rice continued. “But they also are among the most prejudice people in the world because they just want to look at you ant tell you what you ought to think and where you ought to be.”
Rice will be appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday morning with Crowley.
So what? Does that negate her extraordinarily important words on the topic of feminaziism/racism? We take our allies where we can, from my point of view.
Great story. Underestimate Dr. Rice at your own risk.
I agree, if we dont vote , we end up voting for the dem candidate- there is never a perfect candidate, but if romney or Obama is the choice, you pick the better of the 2
[ I will not be voting for Romney under any circumstances. ]
If Romney wins the primarys.. not voting for him will be two votes for Negrodamus..
1. no vote for the republican..
2. making one vote for Zero twice as potent..
Who were you before you became Timber Rattler? With your credentials you surely found this site sometime before Nov, 2011.
So you speak for all Freepers? I guess there is no point in posting anything from here on out. You’ll take it form here.
As the great Howie Carr says”You go for the one who will hurt you least”, and as I don’t think that anyone other than satan is worse than obama,it would have to be Romney.
While that is true, I am still quite content that I didn't vote for Schwarzenegger in Kalifornia. His incompetence and lack of principles accomplished nothing for conservatives and made it inevitable that Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown would get a return engagement in Sacramento.
I might vote for Romney if he gets the nomination, but I will forever despise the RINO supporters who joined the liberal media in suggesting that he is a Republican and not a Democrat.
well.... leftists didn’t see a good reason to not recognize the Khmer Rouge either. The mass murderers still held the UN seat long after they lost their country.... all the way to 1993! The “Killing Fields” didn’t stop western governments and the UN from siding with the KR over other groups vying for control.
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Some noteworthy articles about politics, foreign or military affairs, IMHO, FReepmail me if you want on or off my list.
well said...
[ Great story. Underestimate Dr. Rice at your own risk. ]
What happens if you’ve hauled off and over-estimated her?..
You know..... BECAUSE SHE’S BLACK.. OR A WOMAN.. or a Rino..
True.. a female russian analyst is strange and a black one stranger still..
Most(not all) black people in this country are socialists.. and probably racists..
Hard to examine a 97+% percentage pro-Obama vote..
Only a few ways to explain it.. theres serious dysfunction there..
I kind of wish Cain talked to her instead of Henry the K.
I am not certain whether it is even possible but I think you may have insulted Satan.
Thanks for the ping!
i’m not even sure satan is worse. i’d probably vote for him over obama, at least everyone one know what he’d be doing and it would be easier to counteract him
Thanks neverdem.
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