I'm Impressed With Condi

Condi Rice has certainly hit the ground running in her new position as Secretary of State. It seems that every time I see her she's in a different country meeting with various world leaders. Time has a feature on her, and here's the "money" paragraph that I think sums up why she will be even more successful that Colin Powell:

But Rice's best asset is her direct line to the Oval Office. "You get the feeling as you speak to her and listen to her," said an official who met with her in Europe last month, "that you are actually listening to the President's voice. You don't have to make a calculation about whether this is the view of all the government in Washington--or just part of it."

When Powell was in office, there was always the question about whose agenda he was pushing. Powell was known to be against some of the more aggressive Bush foreign policies, and the press was constantly trying to generate conflict between Powell and Bush.

When Condi was nominated, the biggest complaint the Dems could come up with was that she agreed with Bush and would work to implement his policies...as though that was a problem. I guess when a Republican is president, he's supposed to appoint only people who disagree with him and work against his interests. I don't remember that same requirement when a Dem was president.

It looks like the Dems biggest complaint about Rice will actually turn out to be her biggest asset when it comes to dealing with the rest of the world.