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Condi, Hillary, And 2008
by Dick McDonald
Originally posted to BNN 3/14/2005
On the Sunday talk shows, Condi Rice made it clear that she doesn't want to nor will she run for President in 2008. She has no desire to run, she has never run for any office. I tend to believe her. Although she took a management role as a Provost at Stanford, in government she has always operated at the staff level. Her role as Secretary of State may poison her for power, but I highly doubt it. She says she knows what it takes to run for President and wants no part of it.
Rice is about accomplishment, not power, nor the abuse or use of it. Yet, she is undoubtedly the most qualified candidate with the most powerful personage that Republicans have ever seen. After her 911 Commission appearance all doubts about Condi's ability to handle the job evaporated. At that moment I came to believe the woman could run the country with one-hand tied behind her back. But her eyes just aren't there. Yet.
On the other hand, Hillary Clinton is a power-hungry, old fashion politician. She blows in the wind. She has always had her eye on the Presidency ever since her college classmates voted her the most likely woman to become President. To that end, she has cut every corner and changed her positions to appeal to the voter du jour. She will have a tougher road to hoe than she imagines with the Kennedy/Kerry/Dean/Bayh cabal weighing in against her. But Condi is another matter.
Compared to the assured, cocky, belligerent, ready-for-a-fight Hillary, Condi is tough, determined lady but she hasn't shown us the side of herself that says "I want to be your President, I will be your President". She seems happy to be smarter than everyone else. Self-satisfied, elegant and so prepared that in a way intelligence is secondary. She has ground herself into the finest brew around through working night and day for years on becoming that all-knowing person that has thought through her challenges so thoroughly, no one can touch her.
Condi has often suggested her goal after politics was to become the Commissioner of the National Football League. That job she could do with both hands tied behind her. I hope she continues in government. Maybe she would consider being a vice-president. A running mate for Jeb. With vouchers, personal accounts and Condi, the monolithic black vote that elects Democrats might be broken for good. They would have a tough time voting against her; a black, for the first time in history, would be a heart beat from the presidency of the United States of America.
Dick McDonald blogs at The Right Scale.
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