November 21, 2009
UTNE READER

Why Don't We Talk Anymore?

(Page 8 of 8)

Utne Reader March / April 2007
John Brady Kiesling, Utne Reader 
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Secretary Rice volunteered the State Department as the president's instrument of 'transformational diplomacy.' This is a majestic challenge. Rice failed, however, to fight for the necessary tools: restored commitment to the rule of law; acceptance of democratic outcomes we dislike, such as the electoral victory of the Hamas party in Palestine; and nonpoliticized use of foreign assistance. Rice has not convinced the White House that effective U.S. diplomacy, whether it involves AIDS prevention, environmental protection, or counterterrorism, is worth the cost of irritating domestic constituencies. Her diplomacy needs to begin at home.

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The past six years have been a setback for the State Department, but an educational one. The Bush administration paid a political cost in November for Americans' unhappiness with their poor international image. I suspect that the next president and secretary of state will recognize the need to persuade more U.S. diplomats to postpone their retirement seminar. Among the tasks facing them is to teach a new generation of shy students to represent their country effectively to the billions of politely inscrutable strangers around us.

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