Condoleeza Rice - For some reason she does not want to run, at least did not want to run for the presidency, but I for one only can hope (and write emails expressing my hope to John McCain and the Republican Party) she would run for the vice presidency by McCain's side. What are the qualities that I believe make her a good potential candidate for the vice presidency? First of all, she is fairly conservative, this alone makes her a much better choice than some of the names the McCain campaign has dangled in front of our faces recently. In fact, she used to be a registered Democrat, then she changed her political affiliation to that of the Republican Party when she experienced the racism that is enmeshed in Democrat Party, and after she fell out with the politics of that party because of the actions of then President Jimmy Carter. In other words, she matured politically, she grew up and became a responsible adult as opposed to a whining leftist.
She is an intelligent and well educated woman, and her through her education she has geared herself toward a lifetime dedicated to politics and diplomacy. Her BA degree was in Political Science. Her Master's Degree likewise. Her PhD in the same major. Her dissertation was done on military policy and politics in then Czechoslovakia. Her career has included university teaching at Stanford, where she specialized in teaching about the Soviet Union.
During the Reagan presidency, Dr. Rice served as Special Assistant Director to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In 1989 when George H.W. Bush was elected to the presidency, Rice was asked by National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft to become his expert on the Soviet Union. Under George H.W. Bush, she served as Director of Soviet and Eastern European Affairs in the National Security Counsel. This was no small task as this was at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union.
In the early 1990s, Rice became an advisor to Chevron Oil at that time at the urging of George P. Schultz. She was so successful in help Chevron accomplish a huge deal in the Soviet Union that they later named a super tanker in her honor. At the same time, she went back to and continued working for Stanford University so as not to lose tenure. While at Stanford she was recommenced to replace the outgoing university president. While she was not selected for that position, the new president of Stanford picked her to become the Provost of Stanford - in other words to become it chief financial and business officer. So as she rolled along in her career she not only showed great promise in the political arena, but also gained experience in the business world. This was in about 1993. When she took the position of Provost, Stanford was running a $20 million budget deficit. She promised to balance the school's budget within 2 years - something that many believed was impossible to ever accomplish. Well she said she would do it, and that is what she did. The budget was not only balanced within 2 years, but the school had over a $14 million surplus for the firs time ever. While there at Stanford acting as provost she also broke from tradition and did not use affirmative action in tenure decisions.
Throughout the rest of the 1990s she continued to teach at Stanford, and also continued to work in the public sector as a national security advisor regarding mainly the former Soviet Bloc. In 2000, Dr. Rice became the foreign policy advisor of George W. Bush. Late in 2000, Dr. Rice was selected to become President Bush's National Security Advisor, she was the first woman to hold this post. She was dubbed Warrior Princess because of her ability to act demurely while at the same time remaining steadfastly resolute and having nerves of steel. Does 'Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick' have any similarity to this type of attitude. At this appointment, she departed from her position at Stanford, and she dedicated herself 100% to the United States of America.
Can you imagine that, a former democrat, a woman, an African American saying no to affirmative action! Are you beginning to see the picture. This person is a self made success story, one with the smarts, and the education, and so far some of the experience needed to become president, let alone vice president. Since being so appointed she has supported the war in Afghanistan, has supported the war in Iraq, has remained loyal to President Bush, and to America, has remained in office and has upheld her political and career convictions (as opposed to others like Colin Powell who turned tail and ran at the first sign of turbulence in the White House). She has not always made the right decisions, many have been faulted such as those about believing Iraq had WMD. Yet those decisions were based upon faulty intelligence and were believed by all involved across party lines at the time. The fact is that she recovered, and did not turn tail and cut herself away from the Bush administration, but instead remained there to make the best of what otherwise could have been a much worse situation.
In 2005, Dr. Rice became the first African American Woman, the second African American, and the second woman to hold that position. She believes in supporting basic human rights for all people, and in that regard she has been and remains a proponent of Democratic forms of government, and this is nowhere less obvious than in the Middle East. She is also a brave woman. She has repeatedly traveled to dangerous hot spots around spreading diplomacy as Secretary of State. It seems she is living up to the moniker of Warrior Princess. While in service of our nation she has visited over 70 countries. This includes repeated visits to Afghanistan and Iraq (where indeed she has visited the troops), and recently to war torn Georgia. She is also a strong supporter of the war on terrorism.
She is no stranger to domestic issues. She has a stance on abortion that would make some on the far right cringe, but my bet is that the middle of the road republican, even those middle of the road democrats, would find her stance reasonable. While she is opposed to late term and partial birth abortion, she does not believe government should play the role in the abortion issue that it has played. She is opposed to federal funding of abortion. She has called herself: "mildly pro-choice" but yet she has also said this in relation to abortion: "...we have to respect the culture of life and we have to try and bring people to have respect for it and make this as rare a circumstance as possible..."
Condoleeza Rice is no stranger to foreign policy. She is an accomplished executive officer with much experience as one. She geared her education toward politics not toward a law degree as do many politicians. She is and has been a member of the Republican and Democratic parties, and therefore has first hand experience with those from both sides of the aisle as she was at one time or another on each of those sides. She is tenacious at getting done what needs to be done. She is loyal. She is soft spoken, and tries the diplomatic approach; but she is ready to shut up and put up when need be, and if that means a fight to protect our interests, she is willing.
In 2004, Forbes magazine called her the most powerful woman in the world. In 2007, while speaking to a group of school children she was asked how it felt to be so powerful. She replied: "Sometimes you don't feel all that powerful."
Yes, she would be my number one suggestion to John McCain as to whom to consider for his running mate. She is number one on the Ballseye short list of ice presidential nominees for the Republican Party. As a matter of fact, the more I think of it, the sadder it is that she also told those same school children she would not run for the presidency. Too bad, she would have beaten all of the competition hands down from what I can tell. She is certainly the most qualified person to become a presidential or vice presidential candidate that I have seen in decades. If only the claim in this article was true. One can hope though, and I still hope that McCain comes to his senses and look to her.
There is a lot more to her than I have written abut above. Go to my sources, find your own sources, read up on her. I think you will agree she is vice presidential material at the very east; and if she serves as vice president my guess would be she would also serve as a future president of these United States.
I will put my money where my mouth is regarding the above. Should Senator McCain choose Secretary Rice as his running mate, I will make the largest political contribution I have ever made to his campaign, and it will be sizable for me as allowed by law. Not only do I envision McCain as a winner with Rice by his side, but I believe that with her as VP we as Americans would all be winners. I would vote for McCain if he chooses Rice. If he chooses Lieberman or Ridge, he can forget about my vote. As for you, make up your own mind, cast your ballot for whom you want, but please try to do so wisely after having given it some serious consideration.
All the best,
Glenn B
References:
http://www.state.gov/secretary/
http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/ricebio.html
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Condoleeza_Rice
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condoleezza_Rice (much of the above info came from this article)
