Washington, D.C ? Laura Bush predicted on Friday that the United States soon will have a female president – a Republican, and maybe even Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

She made the comment in a CNN interview on Friday, the day before she leaves for Liberia to attend the inauguration of the first female president in Africa.

Rice has said she has no desire to be president when President Bush’s second term expires, but Mrs. Bush said: “I’d love to see her run. She’s terrific.”

Mrs. Bush leaves tonight for Africa, where she will visit Ghana and Nigeria to promote education and AIDS treatment after leading the U.S. delegation attending the swearing-in of Liberia’s President-elect Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf on Monday in Monrovia.