Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 15, 2010; 10:43 PM
Not many authors on a book tour manage to snag a visit with the
president of the United States. But Condoleezza Rice is no ordinary
book author.
The former secretary of state and onetime national security adviser
met one-on-one with President Obama at the White House on Friday
afternoon, after a week of television appearances promoting
"Extraordinary, Ordinary People," her memoir about her parents. The
White House said Obama wanted to discuss a range of foreign policy
issues with her.
Later, at an evening appearance at the Aspen Institute, Rice said she
and Obama "covered the waterfront." "Despite the fact there are
changes and tussles, there is still a foreign policy community that
believes that foreign policy ought to be bipartisan," she said. "It
was really great that he reached out in that way."
Rice rolled her eyes at the notion that Obama is a closet Muslim, and
she defended him from criticism - led by former vice president
Richard B. Cheney - that Obama had weakened the country. "Nothing in
this president's methods suggests this president is other than a
defender of America's interests," Rice told an audience that included
presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett.
Rice's book, a deeply personal account of growing up in segregated
Alabama, doesn't touch on the foreign policy controversies of her
service for President George W. Bush; that material is reserved for a
future volume. But all week Rice has deftly maneuvered political
minefields, refusing to join in criticism of the current
administration while gently defending the decisions of the last one,
including Bush's move to topple Saddam Hussein.
"I am not going to chirp at the people inside," Rice said Wednesday
on Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central. "I know that
it's a lot easier out here than it is in there, and these are
patriotic people who are trying to do their best every day."
Speaking to Fox News's Bill O'Reilly, she lavished praise on her
successor, Hillary Rodham Clinton: "I think she is doing a lot of the
right things. . . . She is very tough. . . . I think she has done a
fine job, I really do."
Rice even chastised former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) for
his assertion that Obama has a "Kenyan, anticolonial" worldview.
"That's over the top, and I don't think very helpful," she told
Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC.
Before she left Foggy Bottom, Rice repeatedly said that she would not
criticize publicly the people who came after her. Indeed, one of her
most uncomfortable moments in office came when former secretary of
state James A. Baker III was co-leader of a bipartisan panel that
issued a tough critique of the Bush administration's policy in Iraq -
in particular, the diplomatic efforts that were part of Rice's
portfolio.
Since leaving Washington, Rice has returned to her academic career in
California, where she is a professor at Stanford University and a
fellow at the Hoover Institution. She also set up a consulting firm
with Stephen J. Hadley, Bush's second-term national security adviser.
A rabid football fan, she has been thrilled with Stanford's strong
5-1 start this season.
Rice maintains ties with foreign leaders, recently meeting in
California with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
Twice given Stanford's highest awards for teaching, Rice has taken to
the classroom with vigor. On a recent Friday afternoon, she told
business school students stories from her time as secretary of state
to illustrate how Russia used its oil and gas reserves as an economic
weapon against Europe toward the end of the last decade.
Dressed in a smart, two-tone gray blazer and matching slacks, she
asked the students to ponder Europe's passivity when confronted with
the monopolistic behavior of Gazprom, Russia's state-owned oil and
gas company. "I personally always thought the Europeans
underestimated their leverage," she noted.
She then shifted to Iran's nuclear program. After a quick review of
Iran's uranium enrichment efforts and international sanctions on the
country, she opened a mock U.N. Security Council meeting and watched
students deliver speeches on Iran much as she had for years as
secretary of state. The French "representative" brought a bottle of
wine to the podium for effect, triggering a laugh from Rice.
All week, Rice has resolutely refused to entertain speculation about
nascent political ambitions - or even an encore stint in Washington.
"What is better than having been secretary of state? That's the best
job in government," Rice told Fox News's Greta Van Susteren. "I've
already done that. So I think I will just stay in California."
Correspondent Janine Zacharia in Palo Alto, Calif., contributed to this report.
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