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Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice endorsed Mitt Romney as the Republican presidential nominee at a fundraiser in California last night, saying he understands the nation’s special place in the world.

Rice, 57, spoke at an event the former Massachusetts governor attended in Hillsborough, California, near where she teaches at Stanford University. Romney clinched the nomination two days ago, winning the party primary in Texas.

“If America is going to rebuild its strength at home, rebuild its sense of who we are, it needs a leader that also understands how really exceptional the United States of America is, and is not afraid to lead on the basis of that exceptionalism,” Rice told about 300 donors. “The only thing that people dislike more than unilateral American leadership is no American leadership at all.”

Condoleezza Rice, who served as President George W. Bush’s secretary of state, is speaking out in defense of the GOP presidential ticket on women’s issues, saying the Romney-Ryan ticket will “respect” those who differ with them on those subjects.

“I would like to say to people that I am not always in agreement with everything that’s written in the Republican platform about social issues. But I know that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are going to respect the views of those who may disagree on these issues. They are going to take that into account,” she said Wednesday on Fox News’s “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.”

Rice dismissed rhetoric about a so-called Republican war on women as both presidential campaigns vie for the undecided female vote. Her comments came a day after Indiana GOP Senate hopeful Richard Mourdock came under fire for saying a pregnancy resulting from a rape is God’s will. Democrats immediately hit Romney for having endorsed the candidate, even though Romney distanced himself from Mourdock’s statement.

“I am quite comfortable that those who talk about a ‘war on women’ are not just engaging in hyperbole, I think it’s far worse than that,” she said. “It is condemning people who are going to be reasonable and who are going to take into account the views of whom they don’t agree.”