The further unraveling of whatever may be left of America’s exalted position in the world is probably guaranteed now. George W. Bush, the worst and most destructive president in American history, has chosen his favorite advisor, Dr. Condoleeza Rice, to be the next Secretary of State. This is the same as Ronald Reagan putting James Watt in charge of the Department of the Interior. This is like putting Bill Clinton in charge of the White House intern program.
Condoleeza Rice is an ideologue, a person who believes in the Divine Right of America to rule and dominate the world. Condoleeza Rice sees no (American) evil, hears no (American) evil, and speaks no evil (when American deliberate misdeeds occur). Condoleeza Rice can pick out misdeeds of foreign powers and rulers in her sleep, but cannot identify or correct those of her own government. Even worse, Condoleeza Rice has no subtle approach to dealing with representatives of other nations. To Condoleeza Rice, as with her boss, everything is black and white. America — good, all the time. America does not need to apologize or explain. America must express itself through positions of power and military force. America never apologizes or accepts reproof.
Unfortunately for Condoleeza Rice, the entire world knows that America is convulsively wrong in its interpretation of and in its response to recent world events, including those engineered and manipulated by the American government. Condoleeza Rice will not only not fool anyone, but she will not even try. She will propel the U.S. into situations of irreversible animus on the mistaken assumption that it really does not matter what the world thinks of the U.S. Condoleeza Rice thinks that American military might makes the U.S. invincible and American policies beyond resistance.
As a result, the nations of the world, including America’s allies and former allies, will increasingly retreat from strategic alliances with the U.S. The world will ally against the interests of the U.S. Foreign diplomats, unlike Rice, know how to be discrete and diplomatic with her and with each other. Rice and Bush will exacerbate the friction between the U.S. and the rest of the world, and will leave the U.S. in more vulnerable, isolated, and feared standing than ever before.
Diplomacy is supposed to prevent wars and decrease frictions. The Bush Administration is setting back diplomacy in such a way that American diplomacy may never recover until we hit rock bottom and have to petition the world from positions of relative weakness. They say, "the bigger they are, the harder they fall", and America is headed for a hard fall, with Condoleeza Rice and George W. Bush shaking the ground and making it more and more unlikely to maintain or even attain balance.
And the American public continues to slumber in its materialistic torpor.
