Bush's historic nomination
From Wolf Blitzer
CNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush walked into the White House Roosevelt Room Tuesday joined by his national security adviser and made his announcement:
"I'm pleased to announce my nomination of Dr. Condoleezza Rice to be America's secretary of state."
It was no surprise that the president had turned to his trusted aide to succeed Colin Powell, who announced his resignation Monday. Powell was warmly praised by both the president and Rice, though he was not present at the announcement.
"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," the president said.
Rice is 50 years old, single, an accomplished concert pianist and a former provost at Stanford University. She was Bush's principal foreign policy tutor when he was still governor of Texas and running for his party's presidential nomination. Since taking office, she has almost always been at his side.
"I look forward, with the consent of the Senate, to pursuing your hopeful and ambitious agenda as secretary of state," said Rice.
She is widely expected to be confirmed.
"She will face some very significant questioning, I believe, in the hearings, but she certainly deserves the benefit of the doubt," said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon.
But even some Republicans say they will press her on the direction of U.S. foreign policy over the next four years.
"There are a growing number of conservatives and Republicans who, while they support the president and support the war in Iraq, wonder how many of these nation-building wars we're going to engage in and what the parameters of that are," said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee.
Like Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, but unlike Powell, she is seen as a hardliner. But she's also seen as pragmatic -- someone ready to adjust to circumstances.
The president named her long-time deputy, Stephen Hadley, to replace her as his national security adviser.
If confirmed, Rice would become the first African American woman to head the State Department. She has a compelling personal story -- growing up in Birmingham, Alabama.
"As a girl in the segregated South, Dr. Rice saw the promise of America violated by racial discrimination and by the violence that comes from hate. But she was taught by her mother, Angelina, and her father, the Rev. John Rice, that human dignity is the gift of God and that the ideals of America would overcome oppression," the president said.
It was an emotional moment and Rice could be seen choking back some tears.
