Condoleezza Rice says she was appalled and insulted by the way some Democrats played the race card in the just-completed 2014 midterm elections.
Rice, a Republican, is the first African-American woman to serve as National Security Adviser and Secretary of State in the George W. Bush administration. She holds a Ph.D in political science and was the former provost of Stanford University where she now teaches. She is an accomplished pianist who also speaks Russian fluently. Rice is also one of the 13 inaugural members of the selection committee for the new College Football Playoff system.
In the run-up to the election, some Democrat candidates or their surrogates in a few southern states used racially charged messaging apparently as a way to increase voter turnout among targeted constituency groups. Townhall.com has compiled a list of examples of this divisive strategy.
Republicans managed, nonetheless, to take control of the U.S. Senate by flipping seven seats from the opposition. Two more seats may go into the GOP column after all the votes are counted in Alaska and a runoff takes place in Louisiana. The party also increased its hold on the U.S. House of Representatives.
Along these lines, Sen. Mary Landrieu, the Democrat now facing the December 6 runoff in Louisiana, raised eyebrows before the election on Tuesday when she told NBC News that the President Obama’s unpopularity in her state is partially race-based.
“The south has not always been the friendliest place for African-Americans. It’s been a difficult time for the president to present himself in a very positive light as a leader.”
The three-term senator also claimed that women must overcome additional hurdles in the south to gain credibility.
About the looming runoff, GOP Chair Reince Preibus said that “[w]e are descending on Louisiana, and we’re going to put the ground game on steroids and really have some fun,” in support of Rep. Bill Cassidy, who is also a medical doctor, and who strongly disagreed with Landrieu’s claims about Louisiana and the region. Neither Landrieu nor Cassidy broke 50 percent of the vote on Tuesday.
According to USA Today , “Rice was responding on Fox & Friends to Democratic-backed ads that appeared in Georgia, North Carolina and other Southern states with close Senate contests aimed at driving up turnout among black voters.”
Commenting on the aforementioned campaign tactics, Rice offered this assessment.
The fact of the matter is, we’re not race-blind. Of course we still have racial tensions in the country. But the United States of America has made enormous progress in race relations and it is the best place on earth to be a minority. The idea that you would play such a card and try fear-mongering among minorities just because you disagree with Republicans, that they’re somehow all racist? I find it appalling, I find it insulting, and as a Republican black woman from the South, I would say to them: Really? Is that really the argument that you’re going to make in 2014?”
Rice also advised the president against taking unilateral action on illegal alien amnesty, declaring that any changes to something as big as immigration law should go through Congress as the people’s representatives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1cKjTq6oc4
Separately, as the Inquisitr previously reported , the NAACP prompted a social media response after it put out a statement following the election that contained no congratulations to GOP winners Tim Scott, the first African-American U.S. Senator elected from the south since Reconstruction, and Utah’s Mia Love , the first African-American female Republican to be elected to Congress.
When asked in the interview if she had any aspirations to run for federal office, Condi Rice demurred.
I am a professor at Stanford. I am a happy professor at Stanford; that’s where I am staying. I had a chance to be secretary of State. I’m an international relations specialist; it doesn’t get better than that. I’m always find ways to serve my country but these days it’s through work with boys and girls clubs and playing concerts for kids and picking football teams.”
With her powerful credentials and international stature and experience, Condoleezza Rice certainly would be a strong and respected candidate for high office regardless if you agree with her views on the race card or any other issue.
That being said, however, in general, any present or former government official with his or her fingerprints on the Iraq War — and that also includes Hillary Clinton on the other side of the political spectrum — would likely have a lot of explaining to do to the American people during a political campaign.