New Sisyphus is getting more optimistic that the US State Department is about to be reshaped:
If this keeps up, we’ll be forced to implement the foreign policy of the United States.
You can tell how good an appointment is by the number of howls that go up from the establishment, and right now they’re howling. It appears that Ms. Hughes has no overseas or foreign experience. She may not have ever even approved a visa or been on a prison visit. The moaning and sneering reveals a complete lack of understanding about the difference between career appointments and political appointments.
Political appointees aren’t supposed to be experts; they’re supposed to provide policy leadership based on the will of the Executive, who has been elected and entrusted to the job by the American people. Experts execute policy, politicians direct it. And we suspect that PD is about to get an advance preview of the kinds of changes the Department can probably expect none too soon.
And, by the way, Franklin Delano Roosevelt didn’t have any military command experience.
Having seen Public Diplomacy downgraded over the past 20 years, I think Hughes’ appointment would be wonderful! The most effective director USIA ever had was Charles Wick. As a personal friend of Reagan–they would alternate in whose house they’d spend Christmas Eve–he got a lot done that lesser mortals could never have accomplished.
Knowing the system is good. Knowing international relations or particular geographic regions and cultures are also good. But they are not the most important factor. Access to the levers of power is. Hughes has got that in bucketfuls. Add to that her very quick mind and solid thinking and I think it’s a winning combination. It surely cannot be worse than the last four directors the PD effort had.
John,
Thanks heaps for the informed comments.
Are you able to comment on the key reasons that PD has been so weak? Is it as simple as Congress failing to appropriate the funding required?
Possibly not on your turf - why in particular was there almost no internal PD in Iraq post-war?
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