President Condi Rice
 

Should she run? The question came up in a poll so I thought of y'all.

Fun fact: I once shared a table with Condoleeza Rice, April 1999 at the Stanford Jamba Juice. It was crowded and there we were. We talked about my dad who I was visiting. This is before her Secret Service detail, back when she worked for Stanford.

Condi in '08?

I think she's very unlikable. Her voice always seems taut, like she's really hung up, or on the edge of punching someone, or something.

I don't have that reaction at all.

I think it would be interesting if she ran, and can see the circumstances of running against a woman or black man pushing the part in that direction but I think she is just too tainted by the current administration and that the Republican nomination will have to come from a governor who can legitimately claim separatoin.

But before she got sucked into the black hole of Bushian foreign policy the broad strokes of her views with which I was familiar were a palatable form of conservativism for me.

And, if we have a shot at electing a woman president having the first one be single would be pleasant in that a lot of stupid questions wouldn't be asked.

This sums it up for me as well. I generally respected her until she became a parrot for the administration's continual double-talk on Iraq.

Sure she should run.
Could she win? I don't know.
:)

Then there's that big gap in her teeth.



And we'd have to endure that clip from the 9/11 Commission hearings ad infinitum. She's sickeningly repulsive as an apologist for this administration's abject failures.

That's where I am with her, too.

In person, she seemed more ladylike than anything else. Almost soft but in the steel magnolia tradition of grandes dames.

I don't see how she lives down the "my husband" gaffe and all the tabloids suggesting she is breaking up the Bush marriage. Not to mention the flipside accusations of lesbianism.

If a woman is going to earn my vote, she has to be someone who was not having sex with the president. Like Hillary Clinton.

Somehow until you mentioned it and I looked it up I had never heard of the "my husband" thing.

And, if she were to come out at a black lesbian woman conservative is there any way she'd not win?

I think it's a given that among those who hold the current administration in total disregard would not vote for Condoleeza Rice, but then they're not likely to vote for any Republican. She doesn't have much cross over appeal (which is the problem I see for Hilary Clinton as well, to those even moderately on the right they're going to vote for almost anybody else before they'll vote for her; same, in reverse or Rice).

But how crippling is her association to the middle and right? That's harder to gauge because they don't think the war is illegal. They don't think there was a lot of intentional lying going on. They simply think the war has been prosecuted poorly and on information that turned out to be wrong.

In modern presidential politics the calculus is more often "who can win" than "who should win" and if the specter of running and old white guy (McCain, for example) against a young charismatic black guy seems to burdensome I can easily imagine Rice's patina mysteriously beginning to shine again.

Of course, there is also the question of whether she wants to be president. I don't think she is so inclined and it would take a pretty strong "Draft Condi" movement to convince her (there is always a pretend "Draft X" movement so that the candidate can say they aren't doing it for personal glory but rather because the populace demands it, but I think hers would have to be more real).

But considering that not of the currently prominent Republican hopefuls are sparking much interest from me, I think she would be an interesting addition.

sure, I'd vote for her. beats writing in Mickey Mouse again

I give her a snowballs chance in a jacuzzi.....not because of her gender, race, or association with the curent administration; simply because in order to be President nowadays you must either be a Governor or a VP.

Sorry Obama, McCain, Rice, Hillary and the rest of you non-Governors.....them be the facts;)

And the NFC has won the NFL coin toss 10 years in a row.

But it seems unlikely it is going to come down to Mitt Romney and Bill Richardson. So if only a governor can get elected, which of these potential candidates are going to do it?

Tom Vilsack of Ohio (D)
Bill Richardson of New Mexico (D)
Mitt Romney of Massachusetts (R)
Mike Huckabee of Arkansas (R)

Those seem to be the leading candidates with governator experience but none of them scream "even remotely likely" to me.

So I think it is a steak likely to end in two years. (I wonder if as Carter was inaugurated in 1977 there were people saying it wasn't possible since the previous six presidents had all not been governors.)

Fair enough...but how many of those were elected from the Senate?

Speaking of Carter; who would have thought that a Titan like Senator Jackson would be defeated by this lowly Southern State Governor? Who had ever even heard of Carter 20 months before the election?

I thought sloppily when I said six previous (forgetting that you'd mentioned the vice presidency as well).

House, Vice President (Ford, unelected)
House, Senate, Vice President (Nixon)
Senate, Vice President (LBJ)
House, Senate (JFK)
No previous elective office (Eisenhower)
Senate, Vice President (Truman)
Governor (NY) (FDR)
No previous elective office (Hoover)
Governor (MA), Vice President (Coolidge)
Senate (Harding)
Governor (NJ) (Wilson)
No previous elective office (Taft)
Governor (NY), Vice President (Teddy Roosevelt)

Side note, the Wikipedia page for Woodrow Wilson includes this line: "Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old cause he was dumb."

Sing Sing, Gettys, Sing Sing!
 

Big question -- Can Condi defeat Boss Jim Gettys?

I disagree. People vote for fresh alternatives to what they're sick of. By and large, they're sick of Iraq, sick of stories about spending, and sick of smugness and big personalities. Romney oozes smug, so he's out. Vilsack is too anonymous. McCain's been hanging around too long. The Republican nominee will be pleasant evangelical Mike Huckabee. If he can hold out until people are sick of listening to Hillary's unpleasant drone and Obama's unrelenting thoughtful graciousness, Richardson, the budget balancer, will be the Democrat nominee.

Winner: Richardson, because at the end of the day, enough people will be scared of whom Huckabee would appoint to the courts.

Is wagering allowed? Because I'll put $20 down that neither Richardson nor Huckabee gets even 35% of the delegates needed for a nomination, let alone actually wins the presidency.

In the case of Richardson, I wouldn't mind losing that bet, but that's the way I see it.

it would be even more amusing if *all* the candidates this year were women... whatever would america do?!

If the Dems are smart enough to put Richardson up there I just may cross party lines and vote for him.....I doubt if I am alone on this either.

You're on.

A race between a President's wife and a President's mistress?

That would be interesting...

I kinda like Condi - she was also friends with my former boss (both went to Stanford together) so she was always spoken well of. All in all it'd add a little more flavor to race.

I liked her when she was at Stanford while I was there. Now, I'm in the same camp as not liking her for being a parrot for the current POTUS.

I curious why this is an issue - as part of the administration, isn't that part of her job, to back up the POTUS?

Elect a woman president?

The sad thing is ... with many flawlowances on my part, I would vote for any woman candidate (i.e, Hillary) over a man ... and I would vote for any black candidate (i.e, Obama) over a white one.

You'd think, then, Condi would be a slam dunk. But I hold her in such poor regard that I would not vote for her for president. If she were to run, I'd feel very badly about that ... because I would LOVE to have a black president or a woman president or Both.

Why?

Perhaps. It was also Colin Powell's, until he grew a conscience.