Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

By Ellen Ratner
President Bush appointed another one of his favorite women to the State Department. Karen Hughes has been winning hearts and minds over for George W. Bush since he was the governor of Texas, and now she's taking her show on the road, across oceans, not just across Texas or America.

This appointment to undersecretary for public diplomacy says a lot about President Bush's leadership style: It's all hat and no cowboy. Karen Hughes is a master of spinning the positives and suppressing the negatives. Remember the phrase, "compassionate conservative"? That was Karen's idea. Does "Security Mom" ring a bell? Karen Hughes.

Karen Hughes is a local TV reporter turned spinmeister. The problem is that the United States has a serious problem with our image abroad. Karen Hughes is a domestic political hack. It's unlikely she will be able to turn the tide of terrorism with some catchy phrases and creative videos.

I admit that I sometime marvel at quality spin. Karen Hughes is pretty good at spinning her own tales of heroism as well. The cover of her book titled, "Ten Minutes to Normal" reads: "The woman who left the White House to put family first and moved back home to Texas," In reality, she has "telecommuted" to Washington since she "left" in 2002, commuted back every few weeks, traveled with the president during Campaign 2004 and has never left the cyber-side of her hero, President George W. Bush. I suppose when it comes to spin, what's good for the commander in chief is good for the troops as well.

The office of public diplomacy exists to improve the image of the United States abroad. As the Washington Post reported on March 12, "Through programs, foreign language media and other initiatives, the public diplomacy campaign aims to promote American values of democracy, tolerance and pluralism abroad while combating negative images propagated in many parts of the world."

I wonder if President Bush remembers John Kerry's quotation from the president's favorite book, "Faith without works is dead." Spin without action may work for a bunch of Bush-devoted Americans, but it won't sell too well on the Arab street where radical Islam seems to be spreading faster than the Holy Spirit in a Texas tent-revival meeting.

My cynical side tells me that President Bush could give a buffalo chip whether the world likes us or not. Opinion abroad doesn't translate to votes here at home. See Presidential Campaign 2004 for examples. This appointment may be more about convincing the American people that we are doing all we can to spread democracy and American values. Ah yes, I knew the "V" word would emerge again. President Bush is nothing if he is not "on message." That message is "values, freedom, ownership." Karen Hughes is a proven message crafter and the message enforcer.

Of course, there's the added benefit of dispatching Karen, the message messiah, to watch over the president's favorite Cabinet member, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Secretary Rice hardly needs any help staying "on message," but she could certainly use a little more "down home" spin, especially if she may one day want to become Gov., Sen., or Vice President Rice.

Karen Hughes and "Condi" are already fine friends. As Hanna Rosin reported in the Washington Post on April 10, 2004, while Karen was on her book signing tour at the "elite" St Regis Hotel, "Here comes Condoleezza Rice, heading into what must be the most stressful week of her life, looking somewhat tense amid this gaily chattering crowd. So Hughes comes to the rescue – "Condi, you must be exhausted," and offers to take her to dinner later so they can go over her testimony for the 9-11 commission."

In the end, it is likely that opinion of the United States abroad, and particularly in the Middle East, will continue to plummet. As I have learned while talking to the people on the Arab streets of Ramallah, Iraq, Damascus and Jordan, "actions speak louder than words." They fear that our interest in democracy in the Middle East only extends to oil-rich nations that do not reside in the pocket of the United States. The Bush administration has "politics" down cold – I had hoped they would start working on governing. I guess I will have to leave that hope for '08.