Rice: Not enough blacks at State Department

I was saddened to see that headline this morning from a story at CNN last evening.

"I have lamented that I can go into a meeting at the Department of State -- and as a matter fact I can go into a whole day of meetings at the Department of State -- and actually rarely see somebody who looks like me. And that is just not acceptable," Rice said.

Dr. Condoleezza Rice is one of the most powerful women in the world. She is a credit to brilliant women everywhere, intelligent, educated, a classical pianist and, I suspect she sets the time for when she jogs with the President - not the other way around.

Dr. Rice is one of my most admired women and is in a group of the likes of Hillary Rodham Clinton, Jeanne Kirkpatrick, Margaret Thatcher, Madeleine Allbright, Angela Merkel, Golda Meir, Benazir Bhutto, Tina Turner, Oprah Winfrey and a few select others.

When I read that she encounters her own challenges being a sole woman of color in State Department meetings, I am reminded of the amazing Dr. Claudia Anyaso who works there. She is a former diplomat and I was priveleged to be in a meeting with her some years ago, during my tenure in the Salt Lake City mayor's office in Utah. The meeting was with black community leaders and the idea was for us to figure out how to become more cohesive.

I shall call Dr. Anyaso and take that long awaited trip to DC and have her show me around sometime.

During the time that Dr. Rice was in Utah along with Dr. Anyaso, I had requested to meet with her - her schedule, alas did not permit. She was, after all, traveling with the President.

One never knows if that opportunity will come my way again, but I will for sure be reading her book when she writes it.

Come to think of it - why on earth didn't John McCain think to pick her as a running mate?