Jamal Watson on Condoleeza Rice

Rice sticks around

by JAMAL WATSON
Amsterdam News Staff
Originally posted 11/17/2004

Despite the war in Iraq, polls suggest that Secretary of State Colin Powell's popularity among the American public remains strong. The same is true among African-Americans, who favor Powell even as they've collectively denounced the Bush administration and disagree with the war in Iraq.

So when Powell, the country's first African-American Secretary of State, announced that he was resigning from the post â€" a move that had been long anticipated â€" it came as unwelcome news even for some loyal Black Democrats.

''I like him a lot,'' said Ralph Glover, 34, of Harlem. ''I thought he was the conscience of this administration. He understood the issues that African-Americans faced.''

Despite Powell's alignment with the Bush administration, Glover, an investment banker who is a Democrat, said that he continued to support Powell because of his public positions on supporting a woman's right to choose and his strong embrace of affirmative action â€" two issues that have put him at odds with the Bush administration.

''I admire the fact that he did not change his positions,'' said Glover. ''That says a lot about the man.''

Donna Brazile, who served as campaign manager for Al Gore's 2000 presidential bid, said that Powell was a ''bridge builder and an important voice on issues facing the country and the world.''

''He gets an A-plus in my book,'' said Brazile. ''He is a man of valor and a person of character.''

Powell's departure opened the way for Bush to appoint his National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice to the post, making her the second African-American to hold the job. She is also the second woman in history to hold the job. President Clinton made history when he appointed Madeline Albright to the position.

''The secretary of state is America's face to the world, and in Dr. Rice the world will see the strength, the grace and the decency of our country,'' Bush said in announcing to reporters that Rice had been selected to replace Powell.

''During the last four years I've relied on her counsel, benefited from her great experience, and appreciated her sound and steady judgment, and now I'm honored that she has agreed to serve in my Cabinet,'' Bush added.

Political pundits have credited Bush with appointing minorities to high-profile positions within his administration. Last week he announced that Alberto Gonzales, the White House counsel, would replace Attorney General John Ashcroft when he steps down.

''I think this administration is committed to diversity,'' said Brazile. ''They have shown that, and I hope that the president will continue to reach out not only to Black Republicans and Democrats.''
It's unclear how popular Rice is with the overall electorate. Polls suggest, however, that she does not enjoy the same popularity among African-Americans that is granted to Powell.

William Strickland, a professor of political science and African American Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, says that both Powell and Rice have lost their way.

''Powell is just our contemporary Booker T. Washington,'' said Strickland. ''He's out of the loop. They're sending him around the world and he has no credibility.''

Criticism of Powell has intensified over the last few years. In 2002, singer Harry Belafonte compared Powell to a plantation slave who moves into the slave owner's house and says only things that will please his master.

''There's an old saying,'' Belafonte said in an interview. ''In the days of slavery, there were those slaves who lived on the plantation and there were those slaves that lived in the house. You got the privilege of living in the house if you served the master ... exactly the way the master intended to have you serve him.''

At the time, Powell called the comments ''unfortunate'' and said he was ''proud to be serving'' his nation and his president.
Rice grew up in segregated Birmingham and was exposed to the racial horrors of the South. Four of her classmates were killed in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing in September 1963.

"I know what it's like to live in segregation. ... I know what it means to have dreams and aspirations when half of your neighbors see you as incapable or uninterested in anything better," Rice said in a speech given early this year at Vanderbilt University.

"I know what it's like to live in an atmosphere of hostility, cold stares, and the threat and the ever-presence of violence ... a threat that sometimes erupted into the real thing."

Still, both Powell and Rice have been faulted by critics for failing to use their positions and access to Bush to push for changes that they see necessary for African-American progress.

''They have advocated positions that have fundamentally been against our interests,'' said Strickland.

Some speculate that Bush, who will likely make two to three additional Supreme Court appointments during his second term, will probably appoint the first Hispanic to the court and may appoint a Black woman.

Jamal Watson can be reached at [email protected]