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Secretary Rice on the Tao of Serving Under Bush

Submitted by Prometheus 6 on July 31, 2005 - 8:09am.
on Politics

At State, Rice Takes Control of Diplomacy
Secretary Summons 'Practical Idealism'
By Robin Wright and Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, July 31, 2005; Page A01

Three weeks after taking office, Condoleezza Rice hosted Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and their Japanese counterparts at the State Department. When Rumsfeld began to speak, Rice gently cut him off. The message was clear: I'll take the lead, Don. Both Japanese and U.S. officials noted the decisive nudge.

Now six months on the job, Rice has clearly wrested control of U.S. foreign policy. The once heavy-handed Defense Department still weighs in, but Rice wins most battles -- in strong contrast to her predecessor, Colin L. Powell. White House staff is consulted, but Rice designed the distinctive framework for the administration's second-term foreign policy.

By yielding without question (as opposed to after questions, as General Powell did), it seems she is given a freer hand than her predecessor. Though I'm still wondering how she's escaped any responsibility for the mess in Iraq when she was specifically placed in command of stabilizing the place. Goes to show he skills as a diplomat, I guess.

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Submitted by cnulan on July 31, 2005 - 12:19pm.

I believe her skills at ahem, serving under Bush have proven decisive here...,

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Submitted by Prometheus 6 on July 31, 2005 - 4:26pm.

I almost titled this "the  Tao of Serving Bush." I guess there was no avoiding the double entendre...

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Submitted by dwshelf on August 2, 2005 - 9:31pm.

If you could push a button and cause a white male to have Condi's job and Condi to be a nobody, would you push the button?

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Submitted by Prometheus 6 on August 2, 2005 - 10:02pm.

If you're asking me, no I wouldn't. It wouldn't change anything important.

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Submitted by dwshelf on August 3, 2005 - 6:15pm.

It would erase the existence of the most powerful black person in political history.

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Submitted by Prometheus 6 on August 3, 2005 - 7:13pm.

And that would change things how?

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Submitted by dwshelf on August 3, 2005 - 8:03pm.

Proof by existence is a powerful argument.  It can be done.

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Submitted by Prometheus 6 on August 3, 2005 - 8:11pm.

What does Condoleeza Rice in that position prove that was unknown ten years ago?

 

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Submitted by dwshelf on August 3, 2005 - 9:08pm.

A brief history of blacks in the cabinet. I'm not trying to be exhaustive here, but rather hitting the highlights as I see them. 

In 1956, Eisenhower employed one Frederic Morrow as an adviser on civil rights.  It seems to have been a strained relationship.

During the early '90s, Clinton had at least two black secretaries, Brown & Espy.  An achievement, but you know, these jobs are not memorable. Brown is most remembered for his tragic death in an Air Force plane trying to establish economic activity following the Bosnia war.

In 2001, Colin Powell is selected by GW Bush as the first black Secretary of State.  SoS is the most prestigious cabinet position.  Powell serves well, but appears constantly at odds with the rest of the administration.

So now we get to Rice. Rice is selected for Secretary of State, the same job Colin Powell had, but there's a difference.  She's in control.  She's among a few people who have a legitimate claim to being "the second most powerful person in the world".  I don't think Powell ever achieved that, he was too compromised by Rumsfeld et al.  Further, she's more popular than the president himself among ordinary Americans.  She represents America superbly in public situations (so did Powell).

I think that proves something about the potential for black kids in America.  By existence.  Did we know that potential existed ten years ago? You did, I did, but a lot of people didn't.

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Submitted by Prometheus 6 on August 3, 2005 - 9:25pm.

Did we know that potential existed ten years ago? You did, I did, but a lot of people didn't.

Anyone that "didn't know" ten years ago was willfully ignorant, and unlikely to have changed to this day. Condoleeza Rice makes no difference one way or the other because she's just implementing someone else's will. Black folks have known how to be 'successful' via that method for centuries.

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Submitted by dwshelf on August 4, 2005 - 1:02pm.

Is it possible for a black person to become president of the United States?

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Submitted by Prometheus 6 on August 4, 2005 - 9:45pm.

What does that have to do with anything?

I have your answer, but it's an empty question. 

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Submitted by cnulan on August 4, 2005 - 9:56pm.

What does that have to do with anything?

Ack like you know P6;

White Voters Deserve an Attractive Black Candidate

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Submitted by Prometheus 6 on August 4, 2005 - 10:07pm.

There's a couple of porn stars I can suggest. They might actually vote for one of them.

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Submitted by dwshelf on August 5, 2005 - 12:10pm.

What does that have to do with anything?

Cnulan's hegemon model would answer "no".

I just wondered what you thought.

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Submitted by Prometheus 6 on August 5, 2005 - 1:00pm.

At the moment, I agree. A change in my answer is contingent on a change in the mainstream. And I don't expect the change.

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Submitted by dwshelf on August 5, 2005 - 1:21pm.

Five years ago, would you have thought it possible for a black person to end up with the role held by Henry Kissinger?  Not just the title, but that kind of role in world politics? 

Some flaw in the hegemon allowed that to happen?

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Submitted by Prometheus 6 on August 5, 2005 - 1:42pm.

She doesn't have Kissenger's role. She makes no decisions.

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Submitted by Ourstorian on August 5, 2005 - 1:59pm.

"Five years ago, would you have thought it possible for a black person to end up with the role held by Henry Kissinger?  Not just the title, but that kind of role in world politics?"

Rice isn't the first educated slave to hold a high office in an empire. The Ottoman empire was replete with such examples. Anyway, we should not assume the holder of an office or title is worthy or capable of meeting the demands of the job. She's a "political appointee." A professional hack. She may be a cunning linguist (with apologies to Prometheus 6), but she's no national security expert or diplomat. She's proven herself to be incompetent at every turn--in understanding the threat posed to the US by al Queda, as a strategist in the prosecution of the so-called war on terror, and in analyzing various geopolitical trends. She was supposed to be a "Soviet" expert, for god's sake, and she, like other neo-con artists, completely missed all the signs forecasting the collapse of the Soviet Union.

"She's among a few people who have a legitimate claim to being "the second most powerful person in the world".

Based on what? Why do you believe the media hype? That's a con job perpetrated by the Bush crime family. You first have to believe that the idiot GW Bush is the most powerful person in the world to accept the idea that Sally Hemmings Rice is the next in line in the pecking order. In reality, every US politician and political appointee has been bought and paid for by special interests. But leaving aside that obvious fact, the US is teetering on the brink of self-destruction. It can no longer pay its bills, and the weaknesses of its high-tech military have been revealed to the entire world. The American empire is the laughingstock of the world, and deservedly so.

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Submitted by Ourstorian on August 5, 2005 - 2:01pm.

""Five years ago, would you have thought it possible for a black person to end up with the role held by Henry Kissinger?"

Like Kissinger, Rice continues the fine old American tradition of commiting war crimes and crimes against humanity in the name of US foreign policy.

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Submitted by cnulan on August 5, 2005 - 2:18pm.

Operation Paperclip

The Psychological Strategy Board

Reinhard Gehlen...,

Dr. Rice is nowhere near an Allan Dulles or Henry Kissinger. She has not been, nor will she ever be, as deep in the Bushes as the Bushes have been in her.

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Submitted by dwshelf on August 5, 2005 - 5:09pm.

"She's among a few people who have a legitimate claim to being "the second most powerful person in the world".

Based on what? Why do you believe the media hype?

Do you reject as hype the story P6 posted for us to start this thread? 

I agree, she's not as yet established her role as authoritatively as Henry Kissinger did, but she's already the most powerful Secretary of State post Kissinger, and she's continuing to gather stature.

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Submitted by dwshelf on August 5, 2005 - 5:15pm.

The American empire is the laughingstock of the world, and deservedly so.

Clearly that's not so for very many people, but I'm accepting it as your experience. Is it a pleasant experience, something the rest of us would enjoy?

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Submitted by Prometheus 6 on August 5, 2005 - 6:36pm.

she's already the most powerful Secretary of State post Kissinger, and she's continuing to gather stature.

The most obedient, okay. The most well liked by herboss, sure. But she has no power.

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Submitted by dwshelf on August 5, 2005 - 8:44pm.

But she has no power.

You think the quoted story was fiction? 

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Submitted by Prometheus 6 on August 5, 2005 - 9:30pm.

Basically. She's implementing someone else's decisions. Calling that power puts it firmly in the fiction category.

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Submitted by Ourstorian on August 8, 2005 - 11:51am.

"I agree, she's not as yet established her role as authoritatively as Henry Kissinger did, but she's already the most powerful Secretary of State post Kissinger, and she's continuing to gather stature."

Right now she's still in war criminal training school. Give her time and she will probably surpass Kissinger in perfidy. She's already a better liar.

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