Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog

Dateline: above the garage in Portsmouth RI, 13 March 2005

Here's the cite:

'Mildly Pro-Choice' Rice Won't Rule Out Presidential Bid

By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 13, 2005; Page A05

First, let's not pretend anyone can get elected without ever running for office before. Last person to do that: Ike. All he did was lead D-Day and conquer Germany. Rice is not in that category, and never will be. Hell, Powell didn't even come close. Everyone since Ike has won elections--big elections for big jobs. Rice has yet to do that, and probably can't.

Why?

Second big reason: she is completely unexamined. The biggest faultline? How Rice, as National Security Adviser, ran the Iraq occupation into the ground by not coordinating the process as she was supposed to. The occupation in Iraq has been a grand failure of the inter-agency process, and she was in charge of that. That was her great chance at leadership to date, and she failed miserably.

But here's the biggest reason why she can't be elected president: she's single and she's never been married. Americans simply won't elect that person in this day and age, and they're right not to. Voters want to see that personal connection to spouse and kids. They trust that. It says powerful things about who the person is and how they can be expected to think about the larger world and act within it. It's not just image, but the soul of the person that's reflected in family. Rice is as alone as alone can be, and Americans don't get that, don't like that, don't trust that.

Ask yourself: would you really trust someone who's married to his or her career to be president? Someone who's never be exposed to any of the things all must learn in marriage and parenthood? Someone that single-minded? That uncompromising? That self-defined?

Personally, I don't see things I trust in that sort of life, not when I'm considering the presidency. Frankly, I see things I've always feared about myself--expressed to the n-th degree. And I think, deep down, so will the vast majority of Americans. They simply won't recognize themselves in this person, no matter the qualifications on paper.

Yes, Rice is very talented and yes, she's had an amazing career, and yes, her stint as SECSTATE is going well. But no, she is not a serious candidate for anything in her current incarnation. She is not the anti-Hillary, she is the anti-candidate.

See also: On the Philly Enquirer "single" article