OK, I’ll admit it: I’m a big, BIG fan of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. I like her style; I like her presence. Heck, I’ll admit it – I like her looks. But, more than anything else, I like the way she talks: when she does, she says what she means and means what she says. If she were a golfer, she’d be a cross between Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods: intense, fearless, tough. If she was a Goodboy….well, she’d never be a Goodboy – she’s too learned, too responsible, too sober…

One of my favorite bloggers, The Anchoress, sums up Dr. Rice’s qualities in a way I could never do better:

Serious. Succinct. Direct. Lucid. There is no doubletalk, no shading. There are no codes, no winks and nods. No vague, empty sentences that leave room for “re-interpretation” and spin.

And yet, still graceful, even feminine. Still self-possessed and self-assured. Clearly intelligent. Clearly in command, clearly respected, and yet cool and detached. There is nothing harsh, nothing shrill. Nothing preening. Nothing to disrupt or distract from the matter at hand.

This is quiet courage and reassuring strength. Dignity, actually.

…She appears to be the sort of woman who can, as the Irish like to say, “tell you to go to hell in such a way that you are looking forward to the trip.” And her words hold weight and credibility, except to the adolescent and feckless. I think when she quietly narrows her eyes, it speaks volumes, and it is understood.

When she talks, people on the international scene listen, which is why Syria and Iran ought to be paying very close attention to what she had to say today.

Afterthought: I often wonder why you never hear the Prez get any quarter from the NAACP, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, or any other left-of-center African-American politicos, even though he’s put African-Americans like Dr. Rice and Colin Powell in high-visibility roles where no African-American has ever gone before. In a society where young African-Americans are in such dire need of healthy role models, you’d think their political leaders – regardless of political philosphy – would at least acknowledge the advances that have been made in this regard and the efforts of the President of the United States in helping make such advances possible.