Low Expectations

10/14/2007

Paul Munnis


When Condoleeza Rice opens a peace conference invitation with an announcement that she expects it to produce no breakthroughs then she has doomed the conference to mediocrity right from the start. That is exactly what she is doing in convening a hoped-for peace conference between Israel and Palestine at Annapolis, Md.

When she warns one of the principals not to put their ideas on the table then it is not helpful to promoting peace.

If the parties told her to forget it and refused to come to the conference then I wouldn’t blame them a bit.

It is obvious to all that Israel and Palestine are struggling to find a way out of the morass of a 57 year battle over the territory. It is clear that they seek a peace. It is clear they are working towards it. It is clear that the Bush Administration is not helpful in the endeavor. It is clear that when a breakthrough comes that it won’t be because of anything that the GOP is doing. More likely it’ll be in spite of what the Bush Administration is doing. The peace process is laboring under very difficult circumstances and the U.S. is not a party to the peace.

When it comes to diplomacy, both at home and abroad, the Bush Administration is a failure. There is no way to paint it in a better color. Colin Powell was a total failure as a Secretary of State. Condoleeza Rice is a total failure as a Secretary of State. Dick Chaney has been a bad news spokesperson for America. He has sowed more dissension in the world than any VP before. John Bolton was a disaster as a UN representative. When Donald Trump says that if Rice worked for him then he’d fire her that is an understatement of what is needed.

What is worse is that it may be too late to do anything about this State Department failure just as it’s too late to do anything about our malfunctioning Justice Department. We are stuck with these people until a regime change takes place.

On his worst day Bill Clinton ran a better Ship of State that Bush could even dream of.