Why Mitt Should Avoid Condi as VP

Did you like the Bush administration? No? Then why the heck would you want Condoleezza Rice to be Mitt Romney's running mate, asks Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal. A recent poll had Rice as Republican voters' top choice for the ticket, and it's easy to see why. "He's the business whiz; she's the foreign-policy wonk," Stephens muses. "He's the un-Obama; she's the un-Palin. He's the world's whitest white man; she isn't." There's just one problem: Rice was bad at her job.

Rice was on the wrong side of the Bush administration's most important policy fights, had little regard for Bush's core priorities, and made more than one political miscalculation. She was against the Iraq surge and capitulated to North Korea. "It's probably a testament to Ms. Rice's inspiring story and winning persona that this blemished record has largely gone down the memory hole," Stephens muses. But if Romney picks her, it'll be a purely political choice, "evidence that he doesn't have much faith in his own November chances." For a counter-argument, click here. (More Condoleezza Rice stories.)