The Strangest Thing
It’s really the strangest thing. I haven’t changed all that much in recent years in philosophy or outlook. And yet, less than four years ago I was gung-ho for a person who I thought would be a fairly obvious candidate for president, one whose life story, guts and patriotism would bring her right to the top and in the process change America forever.
Then she became Secretary of State and instead Condoleezza Rice faded from the political scene forever.
How is this possible? Even if she lacked the burning desire for the office, wouldn’t she at least be talked up as the one who got away? Her predecessor, Colin Powell, made something of a career out of being a non-candidate.
But Condi? She holds the most important appointed position in the most important government on the face of the earth during a critical period of war and peace, and there is NOBODY saying “DRAFT RICE!” It was not all that long ago that Dick Morris wrote a book predicting the big show down between Hillary and Condi. The scenario seems almost laughable now.
What happened?
A big part of it, I think, is that she is perceived to have risen a step too high for her talents. I don’t know whether that’s fair, but she certainly hasn’t left a deep impression of having brought the world or even her department under control. Her initiatives have been both over-reaching and under-achieving. Perhaps if she had not played with such high expectations, the lack of results would not have seemed so obvious. But that’s all part of the diplomacy game, a game that a president needs to be able to play, and one in which she has displayed startling ineptitude.
Which brings me to another big point. When, in anyone’s political memory, has there been a presidential election in which absolutely no one associated with the incumbent administration is even being considered for the job? I’m not talking only about major figures like the Vice President. I’m talking NOBODY, not even a candidate polling at .0003.
George W. Bush has headed the Republican Party for seven years and there is absolutely no Bush bench. Zero.
We have lots of competent people running, but not one served as so much as a file clerk in this administration.
Even in the closest historical parallel I can think of, the Democrats in 1952 when incumbent Harry Truman dropped out after being upset in the New Hampshire primary by Estes Kefauver, 74 year old Vice President Alben Barkley was still gathering votes at the wide-open convention and Truman was still a major mover and shaker behind the scenes.
No, I think this election is without precedent, and it is truly the strangest thing.
