Rice's Mission to Foggy Bottom ( a fluffy article)

[rodeodance]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/24/AR2005082401833.html?referrer=email

[e-mail]
Rice's Mission to Foggy Bottom

By Jim Hoagland

Thursday, August 25, 2005; Page A19

Using a mixture of moxie and charm, Condoleezza Rice has improved relations with some of President Bush's harshest critics overseas. The secretary of state will now try to work the same wonders with the battle-hardened policy warriors in her own bureaucracy.

"Running a very big organization is something that I always enjoyed," the former provost of Stanford University said in her State Department office the other day. "People are surprised that I go through budget reviews, but paying attention to detail is part of the challenge that comes with running an organization of 50,000 employees."
To change the world, Bush believes that he must change Washington. To save the world, many diplomats at the State Department believe that they must change the foreign policy visions conjured up in the White House. Rice now occupies the crucial middle ground in a clash of ideas and political cultures.

Despite her success in defusing tensions with allies abroad in her first seven months, Rice still invites skepticism from mid-level Foreign Service officers who bridle at the thought of their beloved State Department becoming "White House Annex 2."
...

[brentspeak]

1. This is just the latest in a long series of Rice puff pieces

from all the major media news organizations. Some kind of Condi payola PR campaign is going on.



:puffpiece:

[rodeodance]

2. yes you are right. BTW--the authors email is in the initial post--hint.

[davidinalameda]

3. fluffy rice?

[Supersedeas]

4. Where the blazes is the evidence to support Hoag's premises:

1. The good Dr. has improved relations with some of the harshest critics...(names, places, circumstances???)

2. Rice occupies a crucial middle grounds (since when, says who);

3. She has deftly launched new initiatives and turned over major responsibilities for them to stars of the Foreign Service such as Undersecretary Nicholas Burns and Assistant Secretary Christopher Hill, who has breathed new life into international efforts to manage North Korea's nuclear-weapons tantrum.


Mmmmm....Hoag sure does like Ricepuffs in Bushland.

[Roland99]

5. her success in defusing tensions with allies abroad in her first 7 months

WTF?!?!

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. Too bad she didn't have time

to pay attention to details when she was the head of the NSC.

[DebbieCDC]

7. Puff Piece

This is all part of the PR campaign to get ready to run Kindasleezy for President in 2008 (so the Bushistas can stay in control behind the scenes). Why do you think Nurse Ratchet has been brought into the State Dept.? It's not to "polish our image overseas" but to work on Kindasleezy for the 2008 campaign.

[Imagevision]

8. Rice is smart to remain "on tour" she shows us nothing stateside!

http://downingstreetmemo.com/