Thread: Condi another disaster for the GOP

Rice's Management at Issue

Critics Cite Blackwater, Baghdad Embassy and Passports


By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 10, 2007; Page A01

Shortly after Condoleezza Rice took charge of the 57,000-person State Department in 2005, she said she relished the challenge of "line responsibility" in leading a large organization. "I really enjoy that," she said in an interview. "Some of my favorite times here have been my budget and high-level management reviews."
Nearly three years later, Rice is under fire from inside and outside the State Department for a range of crises that are largely managerial in nature -- the failure to monitor private security guards in Iraq, the delays in opening the huge U.S. Embassy under construction in Baghdad and the resistance of some Foreign Service officers to being forced to serve there. Over the summer, the department also fell woefully short in processing passport applications, resulting in ruined vacation plans for many Americans.


Many in the State Department's rank and file see Secretary Condoleezza Rice as aloof, reliant on her closest aides and out of touch with the other employees. (By Wathiq Khuzaie -- Getty Images)





Within the department, Rice is viewed by many rank-and-file employees as an aloof manager who relies on a tight circle of aides, leaving her out of touch with the rest of the staff, in contrast to her predecessor, Colin L. Powell, a retired Army general who won praise from workers for treating them as though they were his "troops." At her last town hall meeting with employees 2 1/2 years ago, Rice told staffers: "I consider myself the chief management officer of this department." But a poll by the American Foreign Service Association indicated that an overwhelming majority did not feel that Rice was their advocate.
The latest controversy about forced assignments to Iraq has only heightened internal resentment of Rice's management style. "I personally do not like the ultimatum-giving," said one Foreign Service officer. "It is not what State is about."
washingtonpost.com


One has to wonder if ANYONE in the Bush Admin or for that matter supported by the GOP can do their job. It seems that the business of the business party is to fluck up business and with it the nation. Not long ago manyh on the right were saying that Condi should run for president. That she was the second coming of mary magdalen(sp) and should be anointed as the queen of a state department that would finally get the job done....ie bow under pressure from the whitehouse and play yes woman....

Now it seems that yet another annoited by the GOP and its lapdogs is an abyssmal failure.....wonder when she will get her medal?

Considering that Rice has the highest approval ratings of just about anybody in the federal government, incliding the democrats in Congress, I'd hardly consider her a failure.

Originally Posted by Citizen Ross

Considering that Rice has the highest approval ratings of just about anybody in the federal government

Even if true, how much does that really prove?

It's like saying that horse manure has the highest approval rating out of all types of fecal matter...

Originally Posted by Defensor

Even if true, how much does that really prove?

It's like saying that horse manure has the highest approval rating out of all types of fecal matter...

lol yes, well, if that's true, then we can understand why Bill Clinton was so popular.