dajafi wrote:Wizlah wrote:Serious question from someone far outwith the american political system. How likely is it that Rice stays close to the GOP thoughts and maybe thinks of running for a presidential candidate? Is she seen as some kind of puppet for the last administration, or actually viewed as someone who was busy making foreign policy in the shadow of cheney and bush? Cos she seemed to be putting in a lot of legwork over the final year, in places where it was needed. I remember my eyes fair popping when she visited India, because it seemed long overdue to start re-establishing solid diplomatic relations with them, instead of focussing solely on pakistan.
What doc said, but Rice also has a lot of traits that would render her a total non-starter for a Republican presidential run. She's single--I used to think she might be gay, but apparently she's dated a lot of former football players, so probably it's just that she didn't want to get hitched--and has no kids. She's (very quietly) pro-choice. And she's an African-American woman--either of which on their own might not disqualify her in a Republican primary, but both of which would seem to leave her on a far conceptual shore from the conservative primary electorate. (I'll add that I am by no means confident that the Democrats would nominate a woman of color either.)
I can buy that she absolutely would want a second act, and that her moderate Republican views actually would play in the right circumstances. But her lack of warmth, plus those other factors, plus what seems like a distaste for retail politicking, makes it feel like an inconceivable long shot.
I never thought and don't think she is gay, but wouldn't have been surprised to learn she was President Bush's mistress. Dating football players means nothing, though, that is the standard sort of Hollywood dodge that PR folks set up to cover for their gay acting clients, who want to remain in the closet.
She has very serious problems in a Republican primary or general election, though. First, she doesn't generate a sense of toughness; her tenure as National Security Advisor was generally viewed as a dismal failure, with her failing to crack heads and get the other key competitors (Rummy, Powell, the Cheney shop) on the same page where she and the President wanted them to be. Then as Sec of State, she had the totally impotent MidEast diplomancy shuttle and the even more damaging and very public 'hell no, we won't go' internal rebellion of career State Dept diplomats protesting the possibility of being assigned to Iraq. Beyond that, there are the demographics. Either Obama is a success and pretty much swept back into office in 2012, or he is deemed a failure and the electorate takes a long while before embracing another Obamaesque politician for President (partially black ethnicity, but more somewhat perceived as more intellectual and less macho than is typical). She also is not a spellbinding speaker and is not all that far to the right. She'd do better in a Dem primary than a Republican primary, but she'd be toast there too. Come 2016, she's ancient history. She's an academic again. I don't see Woodrow Wilson being elected President any time soon.
