You're not silly at all, Azizi.

I think it's possible that Ms. Rice tells herself (so as to perhaps sleep better at night) that she is helping people with backgrounds similar to hers by getting into the positions of power she has been holding and that she holds now... that by getting into these positions, she is helping to raise the glass ceiling for such people.    At least I think that when I'm feeling generous.

On the other hand, I am reminded of something a guy said to Michael Moore in F. 9/11. Moore was being assisted by an African American serviceman (I believe he was a Marine). This man had already served one tour of duty in the Middle East. The military wanted to send him back there, but he refused to go, saying, "I refuse to go back over there and kill other poor people". He may have stood to gain something by going back (or he probably had something to lose by not going back), but his sense of honor and of right and wrong superceded his sense of self-interest. I have a lot of respect for that man, and maybe that is the sentiment that Azizi and dianavan are trying to get across as being missing from their estimation of C. Rice.