There Is No Sweetness in Hyperbole

Condoleeza Rice’s mother was a pianist thinking of the musical direction con dolcezza, with sweetness, when she named her only daughter. I am willing to endure an onslaught of hyperbole and idle speculation to say that I like this sweet girl. What objective, critical thinker would not like her? She was born in Birmingham, Alabama to a family of educators who refused to knuckle under to Jim Crow. The Rice family subsequently moved to Tuscaloosa, Alabama so that father John could become the Dean of Stillman College.

Condi’s educator parents did not allow her to sit on her hands. She was encouraged to take lessons in skating, piano, ballet, French and other interests. Along the way she skipped first and seventh grade. The hyperbolistas question why Ms. Rice attended the University of Denver. Perhaps it was because when she was thirteen her father became a vice chancellor of the University of Denver. She was only fifteen when she entered the University of Denver to pursue a degree in piano.

She realized that she would never make it as a professional concert pianist so she started to explore other academic possibilities. She found her life’s work when she met Josef Korbel, a former Czech diplomat, who was the head of the University of Denver’s School of International Relations. Does the name Korbel sound familiar? Josef Korbel, refugee from Naziism and Communism was the father of Madelaine Albright.

Receiving her degree at the tender age of nineteen, she left home for Notre Dame where she received a Master of Arts degree in Political Science. She came home to the University of Denver to take her Ph.D. Her father had also received an advanced degree from the University of Denver.

Condoleeza became a Stanford assistant professor at 26 years of age. Stanford became her launch pad for her meteoric career in government service. She was an advisor to the George H.W. Bush administration on foreign policy and military issues. She returned to Stanford in 1991 and in 1993, became Provost. As Stanford Provost she was the number two official of the University responsible for a 1.5 million dollar budget and academic programs (1,400 faculty members and 14,000 students). Rice left the university in 1999 to become an advisor to the Bush Presidential campaign.

Condoleeza Rice most certainly does have the qualifications to be the President of the United States. She comes from a humble middle to upper middle class family. Father John is an ordained Presbyterian Minister. Rice has been quoted as saying, "I have a very, very powerful faith in God. I'm a really religious person, and I don't believe that I was put on this earth to be sour, so I'm eternally optimistic about things."
She obviously has expertise in foreign policy. The looking down the nose sniffing of the hyperbolistas that she is lacking in domestic policy skills is nonsense. She was the number two executive of a large institution. She managed a $1.5 billion budget. Stanford’s problems are America’s problems. Any similar large institution is certainly a microcosm of the country at large. It’s all a matter of scale, baby.

She is nothing if not a well rounded individual. Her celebrated love of sports, studied ballet as a girl, a capable pianist, and a teacher. She is also a concerned citizen of her community cofounding the Center for a New Generation, an after-school academy in East Palo Alto, California.

Big Bubba would be remiss if he didn’t indulge those who are driven to distraction by their race, your race and everybody else’s race,

"Not least, she is refreshingly, strikingly, at ease on the matter of race. For years she has faced questions about her skin color and sex: Have they been advantages, responsible for her rapid rise? Disadvantages? "I don't spend too much time thinking about it," she says. "I can't go back and recreate myself as a white male" to test this proposition or that. She has enjoyed "a wonderful life, a great life," graced by ideal parents, and "I have a very, very powerful faith in God. I'm a really religious person, and I don't believe that I was put on this earth to be sour, so I'm eternally optimistic about things." She is loath "to criticize any black person for how he or she has wanted to navigate being black in America, whether it's Clarence Thomas or Maxine Waters." She does allow, however, that she wishes the "black middle class would spend less time thinking about itself and more time worrying about the witches' brew that is poverty and race. That is something that those of us who are black and privileged have a lot of responsibility for." (Star-in-Waiting)

Other sources that I looked at,

Condi’s Official Government Bio

Condi’s Official Stanford Bio

Big Bubba Full Disclosure: I have been seen in public with black women. Twice this week.