Can Rice save her legacy with 'Hail Mary' pass on Mideast?
By Warren P. Strobel | McClatchy Newspapers
* Posted on Sunday, November 25, 2007
WASHINGTON — Condoleezza Rice became secretary of state almost three years ago with strong support from President Bush, glamorous reviews in the news media and high hopes from America's diplomats.
Since then, Pakistani strongman Pervez Musharraf has ignored her pleas and imposed emergency rule, throwing a key counterterrorism ally into turmoil. In Russia, the country Rice prides herself on knowing best, she and Bush appear to have badly misread President Vladimir Putin, who's restored autocratic rule and his country's rivalry with America. Her drive for Middle East democracy has stalled in Lebanon and elsewhere, and other big issues, including the environment and relations with East Asia, have been relegated to the back burner.
In her own State Department, Rice's concept of "transformational diplomacy" is largely forgotten, a fanfare about better public diplomacy has faded and morale is sinking. Rice is under fire for her handling of staffing in Iraq, and the $740 million U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is riddled with problems and has yet to open.
Rice, usually loath to admit error, did so last month, telling Congress that her department should have provided better oversight of security contractor Blackwater Worldwide.
An ardent football fan, Rice is hoping to rewrite her legacy in the next 14 months, beginning with what amounts to a Hail Mary pass this week in a Mideast peace conference she's organized for Annapolis, Md.
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