June 28, 2005
DO FRIES GO WITH THAT SHAKE UP?:
Diplomacy's new muscle under Rice: As secretary of State, she has bridged the divide between State and the White House. (Howard LaFranchi, 6/29/05, The Christian Science Monitor)
In these initial months, two features stand out: First, she has bridged the divide that separated the Bush White House from the State Department, remaining the president's top foreign-policy adviser - and sounding board - even after the transfer to Foggy Bottom.Second, as she talks to the world about America's global mission of democratization and the spread of freedom as envisioned by her boss, she is deftly using a life story that rings true and genuine even to America's skeptics. For many students who heard her February speech in Paris, or Arab intellectuals who attended last week's talk in Cairo, the tale of an African-American girl from segregated Alabama who rose through a changing society is opening ears and casting the US in a different light.
What has struck foreign diplomats is how Rice has put herself in control of a new building and bureaucracy at the State Department, without giving up much of the power she wielded at the White House as the president's national security adviser.
"She has taken control of the State Department, and she is still in charge [of foreign policy] back at the White House. For her there is no border, no door between the State Department and the [National Security Council]," says a high-ranking European diplomat in Washington. "She is probably the most powerful secretary of State in decades."
At the same time, the Brussels meeting allowed a glimpse of another, tougher side - some say even stubbornly undiplomatic at times. In public remarks, she singled out Syria among neighboring countries that she said need to do more to help stabilize Iraq, then later pulled no punches at a televised press conference when again fingering Syria as responsible for failing to stop extremists from crossing its border into Iraq to kill innocent Iraqis - and American troops.
It was Condi the diplomat, accented by a little reminder of Condi the tough cookie. And it's a combination that is capturing the world's attention.
Isn't she the most powerful woman in history? Posted by Orrin Judd at June 28, 2005 6:35 PM
colin who ? madaleine who ?
Posted by: cjm at June 28, 2005 6:46 PMWhat about Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great, and Cleopatra?
Posted by: jd watson at June 28, 2005 7:30 PMWhat about them? think how little impact any of them could have on 99% of the people who lived when they did.
Posted by: oj at June 28, 2005 7:57 PMSo all of the anti-Bush crowd at State is now suddenly toeing the line? Great if true but I wouldn't be surprised to see anti-Rice columns by Novak (who is plugged into State) and others before long.
Posted by: AWW at June 28, 2005 8:02 PMAnd don't forget Hillary who was probably more inclined to press the button than Bill was.
Posted by: AWW at June 28, 2005 8:03 PMOJ is absolutely right (silly comparison, JD -- rather like comparing the Library of Alexandria with the Internet). Condi Rice is not only the most powerful woman on Earth, but the most powerful woman in world history. She is also the coolest (world-class pianist) and hippest-dressed SoS ever. She's also the most eligible bachelorette in the world. Anybody think she's pretty? Billions of people do. I kid you not, fellow BroJuddBlog readers, these FACTS (her poweer and her appeal) are not lost on one reincarnated Bolshevik named Hillary Clinton -- Hillary probably sees RED whenever she sees Condi, and her systolic jumps 15-20 points. If they ever run against one other for the Big Kahuna, it will be the best darn thing to watch since the US-USSR hockey game. (And we all know who's going to win.)
Posted by: Qiao Yang at June 28, 2005 8:24 PMoj - Maggie puts a few years on and your heart flits to a younger woman? Shame.
Posted by: pj at June 28, 2005 8:32 PMIt is only a matter of time before the State Department apparat send their favorite Marrano, Novak, to write columns critical of Rice. She has occasionally been known to eat a bagel, which in the mind of the converso Novak is enough to make her a Mossad agent.
Posted by: bart at June 28, 2005 8:57 PMnovak is the lowest kind of pimp; no one takes him seriously any more.
Posted by: cjm at June 28, 2005 9:51 PMpj:
The Prime Minister of England has less power than the head of OMB.
Posted by: oj at June 28, 2005 10:19 PMQiao Yang - I will gladly compare the Library of Alexandria with the Internet, to the latter's detriment. There are still many documents known to have been at the Library which scholars would love to study today. I wager that there is no content on the Interent which will be of much interest 1700 years from now. Quality versus quantity.
oj - You have a rather unusual numeric criterion of power. I seriously doubt Condi Rice has the ability to influence the lives of 99% of the world's population. Does she have the power to tax, enact laws or declare war? Will she be more than an historic footnote 100 years from now?
Posted by: jd watson at June 29, 2005 1:13 AMIt was Condi the diplomat, accented by a little reminder of Condi the tough cookie.
Taking up where Will Rogers left off, we've got the stick--why do we need to say "Nice doggie"?
Posted by: at June 29, 2005 3:04 AMCondi is, undeniably, the most powerful woman of color who has ever walked the earth.
I want a daughter-in-law like her.
Posted by: Mike Morley at June 29, 2005 6:47 AMCondi Rice has - mostly - been reassuring the American people that the dinosaur bureaucrats at State actually represent the USA to the world. In the past, we humble citizens of this nation often wondered if State Department employees were actually Americans, and not Ramsey Clark clones.
The State Department's previous clinical obsession with "stability" rather than liberty and freedom is being successfully treated by Dr. Rice. And, its treatment may even be covered by Medicare!
Posted by: John J. Coupal at June 29, 2005 8:41 AM