Condi Gets Her Shot

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Rice's biggest task in her current job is still unfinished: overseeing postwar-Iraq reconstruction. A year ago she publicly wrested control of that portfolio from Rumsfeld and, with her deputy Robert Blackwill, took a pragmatic approach, accommodating popular religious leaders' demands for an early transfer of sovereignty and nationwide elections. That bought the U.S. some goodwill but increased the chances of a pro-Iran regime taking power.

Washington hard-liners worry that Rice won't stand with them once she faces the moderating influences of Congress and foreign leaders. They say it was British Prime Minister Tony Blair who convinced her the U.S. needed U.N. support for a war in Iraq in August 2002. "She does have this vestigial desire to be loved by the Establishment," says a senior Administration official. At least she knows she doesn't have to win the affection of the man who nominated her. After President Bush sneaked off to Baghdad for a Thanksgiving dinner last November, he laughed about how he and Rice had eluded the press, pulling baseball caps over their eyes. "We looked like a normal couple," he said. With Rice's new job, that marriage is about to undergo some big tests in public.