April 9, 2004 6:59 AM

Recognizing a life lived outside the box

Testimony Provides Breath of Racial Reality for TV

I still haven't seen any of Condoleeza Rice's testimony before the 9.11 commission yesterday, and I don't much care if I do. In the end, nothing much will change, and yesterday's circus likely amounts to just so much bad political theater. Rice makes an inviting target for a few good reasons- her race, her position, her competence, and her politics. Though I abhor her politics, there is no denying that she is a brilliant academic- and perhaps that is her biggest problem. Rice has read "War and Peace" twice- in the original Russian. Clearly, she has a nimble intellect, but her political instincts may not be on the same level.

Condoleeza Rice is flat-out brilliant woman who seems out of her element in dog-eat-dog Washington. It's not that she isn't capable of holding her own, but I get the sense that politics isn't her game. I'm not going to criticize how or how well she has done her job, because I frankly haven't paid close enough attention to draw any fair conclusions. It's entirely possible that her political instincts are just fine, but her choice of employers is not what it could be for someone so intelligent. Be that as it may, I do have some reservations about the atmosphere surrounding her, though.

Regardless of how you feel about Rice, she is a flashpoint, and for three simple reasons. She is a successful

1) AFRICAN-AMERICAN
2) REPUBLICAN
3) FEMALE.

There are those in the African-American community who simply cannot stomach, much less accept, the idea of a black Republican- especially a black, female Republican. Of course, there are those outside the African-American community who also view Rice as a traitor to both her gender and her race. Again, while I abhor Rice's politics, where is it written that a black woman is ipso facto a Democrat?

Rice may have the political instincts of Pee Wee Herman (or Niccolo Machivelli), but no one with any sense would question her intellect or her ability to hold her own in a debate. I suspect yesterday's inquisition did nothing to disprove this. Let's give credit where credit is due.

In the meantime, can we all just lay off the cheap Photoshopping and gratuitous insults directed at Rice? I may not support her politics or the man she works for, but no one deserves to have this sort of thinly-veiled racial vituperation directed at her. It demeans all of us. We can do better than this.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on April 9, 2004 6:59 AM.

A good resume and a pair of kneepads will go a long ways was the previous entry in this blog.

It's OK as long as someone else's child is doing the fighting and dying is the next entry in this blog.

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