The best explanation for Condoleezza Rice I've heard so far

[jedusor]

The slavemaster took Tom and dressed him well, fed him well and even gave him a little education- a little education; gave him a long coat and a top hat and made all the other slaves look up to him. Then he used Tom to control them. The same strategy that was used in those days is used today, by the same white man. He takes a Negro, a so-called Negro, and makes him prominent, builds him up, publicizes him, makes him a celebrity. And then he becomes a spokesman for Negroes- and a Negro leader.

--"Message to the Grassroots" by Malcolm X

Comments

[anemone.livejournal.com]

As an explanation, how about: "She kicks your ass in brain-power but disagrees with you"?

You are implying that
1) Rice is a dumb (or extremely self-serving person)
2) Rice only looks smart because of The Man.

Do you realize the implications? If you boil down your message, you just said that any black person who disagrees with you must be stupid. You also just said that any successful black person who doesn't agree with you got there not on their own merits, but because The Man wanted allies. In short, the only truly successful black people are the ones that agree with you. Everyone else is a dupe. Way to undermine blacks.

[Coming from a friend of a friend page. Sorry.]

[(Anonymous)]

"She kicks your ass in brain-power but disagrees with you"?

Btw, I didn't mean to imply in this that you are dumb, just that Rice is brilliant. She kicks my ass in brain power.

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

I don't think Rice is stupid, but I do think she is being used by the Bush administration. I find it hard to believe that they would hire a black person (or, come to think of it, a woman) for any other reason than to wave her around and say "Hey, we don't discriminate! Look at this!"

I have no qualms admitting that I am biased in the case of the government, and there is a warning about that in my userinfo.

[anemone.livejournal.com]

So I'm not quite so much the wacky LJer, let me tell you why I reacted so strongly.

A couple years ago, I was talking with my advisor about admissions to the CS program at Berkeley. I said that some women in the department feared that they'd only gotten in because they were women. I can't quite capture his frustrated reaction, but he said something like "That's just wrong. Women have to fight so much in the first place, and then when they get there, they feel like they don't deserve to be there."

The conversation shifted, and I ended up saying something like "Rice shows that being a black Republican is a great way to rise to the top."

I later realized that this statement poisoned the success of black people in the same way the "I only got in because I am a woman" poisons the success of women. It was wrong of me to imply that she got the job because of her race. She's very impressive--and if someone told me that she's better qualified for her position than most in that position, I wouldn't be surprised.

I'm sure the Bush team did see her race as a political plus for exactly the reason you mentioned. In that sense, the Bush team is "using" her. But "using" usually implies that the "used" is somehow duped or unaware, and I think she's as fully behind Bush as just about anyone else in his administration.

Finally, by the accounts I've read, Rice is part of Bush's inner circle. If he'd just wanted a token for political reasons, he didn't have to invite her to retreats, include her in the planning, and sing hymns with her. (He pretty much excluded Colin Powel.)

Btw, I'm definitely a Democrat. I even donated money to Kerry in the last election. (Ask rebbyribs for my last name, and you can even find out how much.)

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

How's this, then: it was a snarky comment that was improperly researched and entirely too open to interpretation.