I didn’t run for student council president. I don’t see myself in any way in elected office. I love policy. I’m not particularly fond of politics.

Rice contrasts the substance of governance (“policy”) with the performative, electoral side of public life (“politics”). By noting she never sought even a student-council presidency, she frames her career as driven less by ambition for office than by interest in ideas, institutions, and decision-making. The remark also functions as a self-portrait of the technocratic national-security professional: someone comfortable shaping strategy and advising leaders, but wary of campaigning, coalition-building, and public persuasion. In the broader arc of her biography—academic, then senior adviser and cabinet official—it underscores how expertise can translate into power without the traditional route of elected office, while hinting at the personal costs and compromises associated with partisan politics.