Sorry, couldn't resist. I heard the "Fried Rice" moniker after the Senate smacked her around on Friday, and thought it right on the money... so I had a yen to use it. 
But on to the main course.
In her Congressional testimony of January 11, 2007, Condoleezza Rice said:
“It is bad policy to speculate on what you'll do if the strategy you are working on doesn't work”
OMG, OMG. Did she make that up on the spot, or is that what passes as planning philosophy in the Bush White House? I know she didn't learn if from anyone at State.
Can anyone with military experience imagine saying something like this to the G3 or J5? Or for that matter, to a tactics instructor at Officer Basic? Most importantly, was she serious? And if so, is it any wonder Iraq is a fiasco, and Afghanistan is falling apart? "Sure, the Iraqis might resist us, but it would be bad policy to plan for it."
Can we only imagine what Iran will be like, or what's left of our armed forces fighting there, by the end of Bush's term of office?
Hearing her words, I find I'm not in the least surprised that even GOP loyalist/Bush apologist Robert Novak must admit,
Republicans in Congress, who do not want to be quoted, tell me the State Department under Secretary Condoleezza Rice is a mess. That comes at a time when the U.S. global position is precarious. While attention focuses on Iraq, American diplomacy is being tested worldwide -- in Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, Korea and Sudan. The judgment by thoughtful Republicans is that Rice has failed to manage that endeavor.
Where did Rice get her management credentials, out of a box of Wheaties?
Oh, I forgot... she doesn't have any. Placed in charge of the second largest department of the executive branch (after the military), when she's never supervised more than five or ten people at one time in her entire life, what should we expect?
I hope all the Democrats pushing a one- or two term senator to be our 2008 nominee will take a lesson here. You can't just walk in off the street and run a large organization effectively. It takes a lot of experience in running smaller organizations first. Experience may not be everything -- but it sure means something. And voters know it. That's why governors almost always beat senators, head to head. But governors usually know little to nothing about foreign policy or national defense. We can't afford that either.
In 1952, Americans elected a general officer because they knew he had the right experience to end a war that was going nowhere. And while Ike may not have been the perfect president, he knew enough diplomacy to keep us out of nuclear confrontation with the Soviets, and was enough manager to promote education, infrastructure, race relations, all for the better. Mostly he was a leader and a man of integrity whom friend and foe alike could respect.
We have a chance for those qualities, and the right experience, now that we need them so desperately.
We have Wes Clark.
Just some food for thought.
