Black Democrats Don't Like Senate's Treatment of Rice
By Susan Jones
January 26, 2005
Why are Senate Democrats debating the qualifications of a woman whose accomplishments speak for themselves, some prominent black Democrats wondered on Tuesday.
Andrew Young -- the former Atlanta mayor, U.S. congressman and United Nations ambassador in the Carter administration -- and C. Delores Tucker, chair of the National Congress of Black Women, agreed to appear with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist on Tuesday, to urge support for Dr. Condoleezza Rice as the next secretary of state.
"We think that Condoleezza Rice not only deserves the support, but the country needs a strong, wise secretary of state with a bipartisan mandate to help establish democracy, not only in Iraq, but around the world," Young said.
"We think that this should be a strong, civil process that gives her (Rice) the mandate to lead America's foreign policy in a very, very troubled world."
Sen. Frist, in introducing Young and the other black leaders, called it a "challenging day," given the fact that Democrats "forced" the Senate "to debate a nomination which I'm absolutely confident will be confirmed tomorrow with an overwhelming majority."
"Condi Rice's destiny, I believe, is to be secretary of state," Frist said. "If you look at her past, if you look at what she has stood for, if you look for her principles, she is the ideal person to serve as secretary of state," he said, adding that Rice's nomination should have been confirmed last week.
'Don't like what is being done'
Tucker noted that her organization set up a commission on presidential appointments -- to make sure well-qualified women, such as Condoleezza Rice, were nominated to high-ranking government positions.
No African-American woman has ever been nominated to such a high position, Tucker said, adding that Rice's credentials make her better qualified for the job "than possibly 80 percent of the persons that sat in that office" before her.
Tucker questioned the Senate's need to debate Rice's qualifications on Tuesday. "And why we're doing this Monday morning quarterback -- I don't know why," she said.
"When I was secretary of the state of Pennsylvania, I had none of this problem," Tucker said. "And I just think now that we need to stop trying to find any kind of Monday morning quarterback problems [on] why [Rice] should not be immediately confirmed."
"And we just are here to support her and let her know that we're with her and we don't like what is being done here.
"And further," Tucker added, "it certainly diminishes what she could do overseas. How could she say that she supports democracy, when a democracy does not support a woman that they know is more qualified than any other we have had in this position, especially for such a time as this in America?"
Tucker also serves as a member of the advisory board of the Parents Television Council whose president, L. Brent Bozell, is founder of Cybercast News Service. |
