Let me catch my breath because Dick Morris has made another major prediction, one that will cause talk show hosts to chatter, blogs to run urgent posts (like this) — and if Morris’ track record is any indication will prove as accurate as predictions that New Coke will take the soft drink industry by storm.
This time the quoteable but don’t-bet-your-life-on-it analyst predicts: watch out world, Condoleezza Rice may be out there as Secretary of State now…but she’s the only one who can stop Hillary in 2008.
We refuse to run big chunks of this latest highly entertaining — but not hugely reliable — Morris analysis. But we’ll give you the beginning and end, then you can waste your time read the rest if you want. Beginning:
As she tours the continent after her Senate confirmation, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is like a rock star — her every movement, her every meeting covered by an adoring media.
America’s first black female secretary of state is doing in public what she has always done in private — speaking frankly about America’s priorities and the realities of the post-Cold War world. As she jokes with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, loosening up his dogmatic anti-American policies, lectures Russia about freedom and warns Israel of tough decisions ahead, one thing is obvious: A star is being born.
Does this mean Barbra Streisand will play Condi in a pre-election HBO movie? But we digress. Here is the (Thank God) end of his piece:
Of course, she isn’t running — nor is there any indication that she is harboring thoughts of a candidacy. But as her visibility increases, so will her viability. It may just be possible to draft Condi into the race. A real presidential draft movement hasn’t happened since 1952, when Republicans urged Eisenhower to get into the race. A draft-Condi movement seems almost antiquated in this era of ambitious and self-promoting candidates, but it may well fill a deep need in the electorate to vote for someone who is running in response to a genuine call of the people.
Condi Rice is a work in progress. Her rise has been impelled by her merits and achievements rather than any efforts on her part to curry favor in the media. She is still working and still progressing. But keep your eye on this political star. It is rising and may one day be ascendant.
Whoa! He writes nice ringing phrases from his home on Mars…
If you read this carefully, it’s a bunch of speculation that would be difficult to verify with actual poll numbers. Nor do you hear many GOPers eager to see George Bush head back to Texas so Condi can take charge. We predict there are some other ambitious Republicans who already have other ideas.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.