My first instinct is that she's too connected with the Current Occupant to be anything but a drag for McCain.
But according to the ABCNews blog, not only does she want the gig, but
The survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted during the last few days of March, found that the Secretary of State enjoys a solid favorability rating: 56% expressed a good opinion of her, compared to 29% who did not.
I mean, if she could split the 15% "Don't Know" crowd, who right now are busy getting abducted by aliens and writing letters to Elvis, her favorables would be over 60%, even better than Barack ["I'll Unify Your Ass"] Obama's.
An interesting thought, anyway. If John ["I'll Unify Your Ass Even Better"] McCain finds himself in a poll hole come convention time, Condoleezza could be a helluva Hail Mary.
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I have to believe that a big part of McCain's campaign is going to have to focus on persuading the electorate that Iraq is not now a failure, either militarily or politically. In other words -- in foreign policy he will not be distancing himself from Bush. If that succeeds, Condi's vulnerability disappears; if it doesn't, I don't think it matters who he picks as veep, he's sunk. The US's "tattered international reputation" story is paper thin. All it would take would be a knowledgable actor -- like for instance Condi -- to highlight that our relations with Europe are really quite good, and we maintain valuable relationships with most of Asia and South America. The professional diplomatic griping about the US is highly visible, but overshadowed in importance by our actual trade and treaty relationships.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I'm not a big Condi cheerleader. The weakness of a McCain-Rice ticket would be the lack of experience or even interest in domestic econonic policy.
Nice to see you Kathy.
ReplyDeleteIs this a call for the second Massachusetts Miracle Man, Mitt Romney?
I'm not convinced that Condi would be the right choice, either. First of all, as much policy experience as she has, she has absolutely no electoral experience. Who knows how she'd do on a campaign? Second, McCain's best option with respect to Iraq is to focus on what we do next, not so much on what happened in the past. Condi's intimate involvement with the lack of planning would be a continual story-line. Third, it might seem too much like pandering - "hey, look, we can nominate a minority, too!" Finally, a VP pick is good for not getting into trouble and helping you pick up a state or two. Condi can't do anything in California. McCain would be much better off picking a midwesterner.
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