Narayan says Dole's cabinet experience prepared her to run a large organization like the Red Cross, and he adds that she quickly learned to lead her non-profit to greater effectiveness and unity.
"She's brought a sense of collectivity to the Red Cross which has made people feel like it's a family again," Narayan says.
This "family" feel was reinforced at last weekend's national Red Cross convention. As the keynote speaker, Dole left the podium with a microphone to circulate among the banquet tables, dazzling those in attendance by rattling off statistics and anecdotes about individual chapter delegations as she passed them.
"That's very typical," Narayan says. "The podium is probably her worst enemy. It's the crowd that she wants to belong to."
He says Dole's impeccable memory and preparation at events like this one allow her to have confidence in spontaneity--like her recital of a story about one girl saving a nurse from drowning that Bob Dole says "had tears streaming down everyone's cheeks." They also allow her audience and her organization to feel a special bond to a leader who cares enough to learn about them as individuals, Narayan said.
The Road to Washington
While serving in a number of prominent Washington positions. Dole did not really appear in the national spotlight until 1996. when she took six months off as Red Cross President and helped run her husband's third campaign for the presidency.
Much was made in the campaign of the contrasts between Dole and her husband--she, glib and spontaneous, he, earthy and halting.
Many said she would have been a better candidate for the television age, especially after an Oprah-Winfrey-like speech to the Republican National Convention where, in typical Dole style, she circulated in the audience chatting with her husband's friends and supporters.
According to Bob Dole, that evening in San Diego symbolized what makes his wife a savvy political animal. She had mapped out her "spontaneous" steps months in advance. When her microphone shorted out just minutes before showtime, she had a backup ready.
"It's about being prepared," Bob Dole said in an interview yesterday. "What I should have done in San Diego was stand up and say 'I refuse the nomination, and I nominate my wife Elizabeth.'"
The Road Ahead
Dole returned to the Red Cross as promised after the campaign, and has said repeatedly that she has "no plans" to run for any other office.
Still, recent polls have characterized her in the top ten most popular American women and called her the woman most likely to become the first female president.
"There's still tremendous support for her running," says Jean A. Inman, chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party.
Even her husband says Elizabeth might actually be the Dole headed for the White House. He says he has already had a few "Elizabeth 2000" hats sewn up.
It's going to happen one of these days, a woman in the White House," he says. "She's got the qualities and the temperament to do a good job."
And so, although Elizabeth Dole's spokespeople would not reveal the topic of today's address, it would not be surprising if she sets off into the crowd, armed with information about who the graduates are and where they are going--even after she spent the early part of this week surveying tornado damage in South Dakota.
Dole, after all, is usually prepared for anything.