背景知识：

Condi turns her back on dream job

CONDOLEEZZA RICE has spent months perfecting a tactic¹ to deflect² questions about her long-term political prospects³, saying that the post she really covets⁴ is that of National Football League commissioner⁵.　

“If that job comes open, I’m gone,” the US Secretary of State told one recent interviewer. The tease continued last month when Dr Rice, an avid⁶ follower⁷ of the Cleveland Browns（克利夫兰布朗球队）, was spotted⁸ sitting in the commissioner’s box at the Super Bowl in Detroit.

　 But this week Dr Rice encountered an unexpected problem in the form of Paul Tagliabue, the man who has been in charge of the league for the past 16 years: he has announced that he intends to retire in July. Bob Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots⁹, could scarcely contain his excitement about the possibility of her succeeding, saying: “I think Condoleezza Rice would be great! I’d invest in any company she’d be running.”

So, will she really swap¹⁰ her position as the most powerful woman in the world, earning just $200,000 (£114,000) a year, to be the most powerful woman in American football earning up to $10 million a year? No, she will not.

Her spokesman, Sean McCormack, has sadly had to bring the game to an end. “She thinks football is the greatest sport on earth but even if she were approached for the job — which she has not been — she would have to decline. She still has many things she wants to accomplish as Secretary of State,” a job which she was enjoying “at the moment”.

The qualifier tagged on to his statement will be familiar to those who have heard a similar formulation of words used to describe her lack of interest in running for president in 2008.

Although she has never been elected to any office, she is enormously popular among voters and there is a growing “draft Condi” movement, which believes Ms Rice may be needed to stop Hillary Clinton taking over the White House. George Bush, the 43rd President, is even said to have nicknamed her “44”. But Dr Rice would have to overcome two taboos¹¹ to become the first female — an unmarried one at that — and the first black president. It is more likely she will be asked to join someone else’s ticket as vice-presidential candidate.

In the meantime, she is keeping her options open by softening¹² her public image by discussing her love of sport and R&B music, rather than the policy papers and concert piano with which she has more usually been associated.

She has also made an appearances in a fitness video and turned up at football games, sometimes escorted by Gene¹³ Washington, a former National Football League star.

　

　　据《泰晤士报》22日报道，美国国务卿赖斯多次在公开场合表示，她梦寐以求的职位是美国国家橄榄球大联盟（NFL）主席一职。本周，一直掌管NFL的保罗·塔利亚布突然宣布他计划在今年7月退休，“新英格兰爱国者”橄榄球队的老板鲍勃·克拉夫特几乎无法按捺赖斯可能成为塔利亚布继任者的兴奋之情：“我认为康多莉扎·赖斯是最棒的！”



　　此言一出，外界纷纷猜测赖斯到底是否会放弃让其成为世界上最有权势女人的职位，转而成为美国橄榄球界最有权势的女人，获得高达1000万美元而非现在20万美元的年薪。答案是否定的，赖斯不愿放弃让其继续成为世界上最有权势女人之路，尽管抗拒千万美元的诱惑并不容易。


　　赖斯的发言人肖恩·麦克科尔马克日前对外界传言她将出任大联盟主席一职予以否认：“她认为橄榄球是世界上最伟大的体育运动。但作为国务卿，她仍希望继续自己未完成的事业，而眼下她更喜欢国务卿一职。”


　　然而，麦克科尔马克含糊其辞的声明不禁让人想起赖斯在被问及是否竞选2008年美国总统时的回答。尽管赖斯从未公开表示要竞选总统，但她如今在美国选民中的声望如日中天，甚至美国国内“为康迪设计未来”运动也日益高涨。

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