Diplomat stays mostly diplomatic in speech

When former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gave a speech in Sarasota recently, she never uttered the name Barack Obama, save for a one reference to “our current president.”

But when it comes to the nation's floundering economy and what can fix it, Rice was everything Obama isn't. “There is no substitute for free enterprise and free trade,” says Rice, who spoke Feb. 8. Her speech was part of the Ringling College Library Association's annual Town Hall lecture series.

Rice says creativity, innovation and risk-taking is where private industry shines, not government. And the government therefore needs to foster that type of environment, not prevent it.

Rice focused most of her talk on how important it is for the United States to work worth failing states, such as Afghanistan, for national security. But in that part of her speech, Rice also went anti-Obama in how the U.S. doesn't need to apologize for being the U.S.

No other country in the world could do what the U.S did in World War II, the Cold War or in the Middle East, Rice says. Obama, of course, has been known to shy away from making those points when he speaks about the U.S. abroad — if not outright apologizing for this country's supposed past transgressions.

“America is special,” says Rice. “And the world is very lucky that it is.”