Leave it to the Beasties to frame this in terms of identity politics, but that is precisely the political calculation the Obama administration will be making if Rice is indeed the President’s nominee for State: not only is Rice one of the Three Harpies of War who — in the Madeleine Albright tradition — agitated for the disastrous Libyan intervention, she’s also African-American, a major plus in an administration where identity politics trumps real world qualifications.