Condi Rice: How did she ever end up here?

Condoleezza Rice is an enigma to me. How someone with her background could end up as being an active player in the deceit and all out stupidity of the Bush administration is beyond me.

She grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, during a time when the segregationists were trying very hard to stamp down any notion of equality for blacks. She was friends with Denise McNair, one of the four young girls that were killed by the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church while they were attending Sunday School. She saw racism front and center, how evil and vicious it could really be in its’ struggle against the Civil Rights movement. She experienced poverty and inequality firsthand. She struggled, and ultimately succeeded, to become something truly incredible, given she is a black women with her background. She has been the Provost of the magnificent Stanford University, and then became an integral part of the administration of the 43rd President of the United States.

I would think that her background would have kept her grounded, such that she would still be aware of dangers of institutionalized corruption and unfettered power. Given her upbringing and the things that she has witnesses personally, how can she possibly support the policies of George W. Bush? How can she appear on national television and say with a straight face some of the things that she has said? She must have known that her statements regarding Iraq and the “smoking gun/mushroom cloud” argument for war was a fabrication. Did she really believe all of that? Was she that gullible? How could she possibly get up in front of the world and put her personal reputation on the line while arguing that an immediate cease-fire in the Israeli/Lebanon/Hizballah war is not the correct and human thing to do? Sure, it doesn’t matter if 100 more innocent children are killed, on both sides of the border, because do have a cease-fire now would not somehow allow a more lasting cease-fire later.

That makes absolutely no sense. Which, since that particular snippet of “logic” comes from George Bush and Dick Cheney, makes sense that it doesn’t make sense. Nothing that this administration does makes sense. But how can Dr. Rice buy into that and defend it personally? I have seen reports that she was “as angry as (a staffer) has seen her” regarding Bush’s decision about not pursuing an immediate cease-fire. However, publicly, she went right along with him and his nonsensical alternate-universe view of the world.

Given her background, Condoleezza Rice should have the personal integrity to resign over this issue, as well as several others. But like Colin Powell before her, she chooses to remain wedded to Bush (and I use that word purposely) and his disastrous policies.

I would really like to like Condoleezza Rice. I believe there is a place in this society for powerful women, and for powerful black women. I believe that they can balance the white males that dominate our political landscape. However, at the moment, she is nothing more than a mouthpiece for the Bush administration. She is one of the enablers, who should really know better.

Condoleezza Rice should resign from her position of Secretary of State, now. History may treat her better than if she remains part of this incredibly corrupt and incompetent administration that is taking this country down a very dangerous road.