ViL: Sympathy for the Doctor?

Andrew Sullivan writes:
"Should we feel sorry for Condi Rice? She wasn't exactly the architect of the torture policies of the current administration, but she sure hasn't stopped them."

Hm, I find this an interesting question. I find the question of Dr Rice's morality - or lack of it - strangely fascinating. It's easy to peg Rumsfeld and Cheney as gleefully* malevolent people who do bad just for the sheer joyful fun of it, and Bush as an arrogant, nasty little spoiled brat pretending to be a good old boy. Powell was an intelligent, over-cautious and naturally rather weak (for a soldier) man whose adherence to basic norms of decency brought him into frequent conflict with Cheney/Rumsfeld, Rice acting as something of a mediator between the two. But I find Rice harder to peg. She's smart enough to know that torturing people may be fun, but is poor politics. She has done a consistently competent job as Sec of State, though perhaps that's only noteworthy because everyone else in the administration seems to fall so far short of that standard - we're at a stage where "American meets foreign leaders, no diplomatic disaster" has itself become noteworthy news. It's hard to tell - I don't think Rice approves of Rumsfeld/Cheney's antics, but there' no sign she disapproves of them on moral grounds, either. Yet if she did disapprove, she might not show it - that would be "disloyalty", the only sin Bush recognises, and certainly Rice has always been 100% loyal. Because of this, she has been a better Sec of State than Powell, I think. I don't know if she is a good person. I don't think she's exactly a bad person, in the sense that Rumsfeld/Cheney are bad, but it may be that she is largely amoral. There are worse people to be running the country than amoral pragmatists IMO - misguided idealists can be a lot worse. I suspect that she might make rather a good President - certainly much better than Bush - but that she is unlikely to run, because as a candidate a black woman would lose some of the Republican base, and I don't think Condi Rice would attract many defectors from the Democrats, black or white. I might be tempted to vote for her, but I don't get a vote, and I think the Vol prefers Hillary Clinton. And maybe she's right.
I dunno.

*OK, maybe calling Cheney 'gleeful' isn't quite right... but you've got to have seen that smug grin on Rumsfeld's face as he discusses (eg) how there's just not enough cash in the kitty to get vehicular armour for the Tennessee National Guard.