Heckuva Job Karen
by digby
Isn’t Karen Hughes the undersecretary of state for Public Diplomacy? Wouldn’t you think someone in that position would at least appear in public once in a while? Or at least when the midle east is blowing up and public diplomacy might be called for?
From John Brown:
In recent days, Karen Hughes, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, whose job is to explain US policy abroad, has remained silent. The Spinstress of the Decider, known for her garrulity and love of being in front of a camera, has chosen to be out of the media limelight. With many in the Arab world blaming the United States for the situation in the Middle East, she has said nothing about American goals in the region. Gone, at least for now, are her vapid proclamations about US “transformational public diplomacy.” Nor has she uttered another saccharine word about the need to foster common interests and values throughout the world. And – surprise! – she has not gone on another so-called “listening tour” in the Middle East.
Why is Ms. Hughes silent? One can only speculate about this, as answers are not forthcoming from the State Department, whom I contacted in preparation for this piece. A Mr. Justin Wilson said “right” when I noted that Ms. Hughes had said nothing on the situation in the Middle East, then transferred me to an employee whose answering machine said he was out of the office until July 24. I am still waiting, at this writing, for answers to the two messages I have left to other State functionaries. Silence reigns. Talk about ’round-the-clock public diplomacy, rapid reaction to breaking events! There seems to be, in Ms. Hughes’s shop, no sense of urgency to the public-diplomacy dimension of the situation in the Middle East.
Maybe she’s busy handling the Katrina … er… Beirut evacuation.
It appears that the last anyone has heard of Karen was back on June 26th when she gave a speech to the US-Arab Economic Forum in Houston. It was very inspiring:
Our opponents want closed minds. They say their way or no way. Death to anyone who disagrees with them, no matter what faith or what religion. Together we must confront the violent extremists and their ideology of tyranny and hate. They seek to portray the West as in conflict with Islam, because that’s the window into which they recruit. They can only flourish in environments that foster anger and misunderstanding. Yet their world view is wrong. Islam is a part of America. As an American government official, I represent almost seven million American Muslims who live and work and practice their faith freely here in our country. Together we must undermine the extremists by providing platforms for debate, by empowering mainstream voices of tolerance and inclusion, and by demonstrating our respect for Muslim cultures and contributions to our society and to world society.
And as soon as she picks up her messages, she’s going to get right on that.
Brown continues:
[M]aybe what’s really behind Ms. Hughes’s taciturnity is that the administration has decided, as it did so efficiently during Bush’s first term, to stay “on message” – the message being, in the case of US policy toward Israel’s military actions in Gaza and Lebanon, practically no message at all, except that Israel can do just about everything that it wants to “defend itself.”
One of the most intelligent commentators on the Middle East, Marc Lynch, puts it this way in his blog: “American public diplomacy has been virtually invisible on [Israel’s actions in Gaza and Lebanon], at a time when it is more urgently needed than ever. I can understand this – you have to have a policy if you want to try to explain or defend it, and right now the Bush administration doesn’t seem to have any policy at all beyond supporting Israel and issuing calls for ‘restraint,’ which Israel promptly and publicly rejects. And what administration official wants to subject him or herself to tough Arab questioning on live TV right now?”
But really, let’s think about this. Do we really want someone like Karen Hughes out there sticking her large foot in her mouth? Look what happened when Junior was let off his leash for five minutes. Even Condi Rice, who thinks that any thought the US might have contributed to current unrest with our ill-fated Iraq invasion is “grotesque,” tends to make things worse. Maybe it’s actually better not to have the Bush grown-up team in public. This is serious business.
How much is Karen getting paid, do you think? More than Brownie? Seriously, he was a screw-up, but he showed up at least. Karen has completely taken a powder. Does she have an important PTA meeting or something? A long planned river rafting trip?
Where in the world is Karen Hughes?
Update: According the TPM Mucraker, this criticism of the Katrina …. er… Beirut evacuation is all wet. The state department is in touch with the 25,000 or so Americans in Lebanon via their web site. Yeah, I know.
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