On September 9, Karen Hughes was sworn in as undersecretary of state
for public diplomacy with the rank of ambassador. The State Department
explained that “Ms. Hughes leads efforts to improve America’s
dialogue with the world. She participates in policy development and
oversees three bureaus at the Department of State: Educational and
Cultural Affairs, Public Affairs, and International Information Programs.”
Based on this job description, Ms. Hughes’ assignment must certainly rank
as one of the most important tasks in America’s diplomatic corps, particularly
today when the Bush administration faces dangerous anger and contempt in the
Muslim world and a crescendo of criticism from allies and friends. Mr. Bush knows
that: “We’ve got to do a better job of explaining to the people in
the Middle East, … that we don’t fight a war against Islam. … We’re
fighting evil.”
One wonders, which of Ms. Hughes’ qualifications led Mr. Bush to prefer
her over numerous other highly educated and experienced candidates to shape America’s
public diplomacy? Like the President and Secretary Rice, Ms. Hughes has no first-hand
knowledge or expertise on the Middle East other than having met a few of the
region’s leaders.
Karen started her political career as a television news reporter. In 1984 she
became the Texas press coordinator for the Reagan-Bush campaign, in 1995 director
of communications for George W. Bush, then the governor of Texas, and in 2001
senior counselor to the President. In July 2002, she returned to Texas but remained
a member of the White House Iraq Group. In 2004, she assumed responsibility for
directing the Bush reelection campaign, including the Republican National Convention,
from an office on Air Force One.
The Dallas Morning News called her “the most powerful women ever to serve
in the White House.” Considering how much Ms. Hughes’ counsel contributed
to his reelection, Mr. Bush apparently became convinced that she would be similarly
successful in persuading the rest of the world of the virtues of his foreign
policy.
After 17 days in her new job, Karen confidently flew into Cairo, Egypt, “to
market” America to this nation of 76 million Arabs. Not quite as expected,
however, she quickly encountered a barrage of critical questions and comments.
When an opposition leader asked why President Bush so frequently invokes God,
she answered “that our Constitution references ‘One nation under
God’.” Fortunately, few Egyptians knew that the phrase “under
God” appears in the Pledge of Allegiance rather than in the Constitution.
The next day in Saudi Arabia, Ms. Ambassador met some 500 students in Jeddah’s
women’s college. Although she claimed that she had come to listen, she
quickly criticized their way of life: that they were not free to drive cars and “fully
participate in society.” Blunt and annoyed responses from these young Muslims
must have shown Karen that
telling foreigners how much they need to learn from Americans will not turn them
into friends. At a meeting with Arab editors, Ms. Hughes was reminded of American
biases against Palestinians, mistreatment of Muslims at Guantanamo Bay, and American
stereotypes of Saudis as religious fanatics and extremists.
Ms. Hughes’ Assistant Secretary, Dina Powell, an Arabic-speaking native
of Egypt, seemed of little help to her. Ms. Powell’s preparation for diplomatic
work consisted of service as assistant to the President for personnel and as
director of congressional affairs for the Republican National Committee.
Another adviser to Ms. Hughes in Jeddah was James Oberwetter, Mr. Bush’s
choice for ambassador to Saudi Arabia. A novice to the diplomatic service and
Saudi Arabia, Oberwetter had been a senior vice president for the Hunt Corporation
of Dallas, chairman of the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse under Governor
Bush, press secretary for Congressman George H. W. Bush (then resident in Houston,
Texas), and special assistant to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection
Agency.
The unpleasant experiences of Karen, Dina, and James in Jeddah remind one of
Mark Twain’s book Innocents Abroad (1869), a description of his trip to
the Holy Land: “None of us had ever been anywhere before …We always
took care to make it understood that we were Americans. … The people stared
at us everywhere, and we stared at them. We bore down on them with America’s
greatness until we crushed them.”