CHOICE
Feinstine at her finest.
I was not at all surprised to see and hear Condoleezza Rice at her top form this week at the hearings concerning her nomination to be our next Secretary of State. The big surprise for me was to find her being introduced to the Hearing Committee members by none other than California's Democratic voice Senator Dianne Feinstine. I was impressed.
This is a rather usual situation when you consider that we have here a dedicated and rather insistent and even noisy Democratic voice speaking in cheerfully, even eagerly in bright “gleaming” terms on behalf of a potential member of the George W. Bush cabinet. Condoleezza Rice is unflappable, I'd say and anyone else would have blanched a bit at the parade of terms allowed to flow forth from the Feinstine lips. Feinstine made it sound as if we have been remiss in not offering her the job long ago and that, certainly, no one better nominee could be found. I wondered if she had be same thoughts in the back of her mind,even as she was praising the lady beside her, that she was, in truth, speaking of someone who someone who might well go far beyond serving this nation of ours as head of our State Department. I found myself jumping a few years ahead and hoping I could one day hear Feinstine presenting the same young woman to a national convention nominating a future President of the United States. I don't think I was the only person watching who had such a thought, either.
Since we are all in a confessional mode at the moment, I must also let it be known that I have never been Fienstine fan. Far from it. More like a “foe” than a “fan”, I'd have to say, but judging by her spoken words the California legislator we all saw this week she made a fine, generous, speech “presenting” Doctor Rice to the Senate Foreign Relations Committe members there to take the young lady over the political hurdles.
If Feinstine had any doubts whatever concerning Rice, she must have given them her California compatriot and fellow Congressperson Senator Barbara Boxer, who unloaded pallets of ancient political pablum left over from the recent election on the nominee in a gruff and,at times, nasty maze of mean mannerisms. It remained for Condoleezza Rice , herself, to publically scold the Congresswoman - not once but twice - during the latter hours of the inquisitional trial Boxer seemed to think she was being called upon to run. Rice first “asked” her to refrain from maligning her honesty and veracity; the second time, she “told” her to stop. There was a gleam in her eye that sent forth a subtle warning that one had best remember that while Rice is nice, she can also - if need arises – become quite different. A riled Rice could prove to be something else.
It could well be, you see, even Barbara Boxer praised the nominee by pointing out she has a “limit”... a time and place when she can decree: “That's enough!”
We, as a nation, need a Secretary of State who has those qualities. She follows Secretary Colin Powell in the task, too, which gives her a good, firm base on which to build.
A.L.M. January 19, 2005 [c555wds]
