First it was Bush political guru Karl Rove joining the White House staff — and now the quintessential Bush spokesperson and strategist Karen Hughes is joining the government to help promote the U.S. image in the Islamic world.
Hughes, considered supremely close to Bush for most of his successful political career, is joining Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as the administration’s pick for undersecretary of state for public diplomacy with the rank of ambassador.
One interesting twist: There was speculation partly fueled by her own comments over the weekend that Rice was going to throw her hat into the ring in the 2008 presidential race. She later backtracked on these comments. Will the appointment of Hughes trigger a new wave of political guesswork that she’s being put in place to do more than just work on foreign affairs?
The New York Post notes that the job will be about ” changing Islamic perceptions about America:”
Rice said Hughes, who left the White House in 2002 to move her husband and teenage son back to Texas, is making a high-powered return to counter “hateful propaganda” common in the Islamic world.
“I can think of no individual more suited for this task of telling America’s story to the world,” Rice said.
Both Rice and Hughes share a unique perch in the eyes of a president who puts a premium on loyalty — and their clout within the White House will be unquestioned abroad as they push Bush’s overseas agenda.
“This job will be difficult. Perceptions do not change quickly or easily,” added Hughes.
Bush underscored the importance of Hughes’ nomination by saying in a statement that her return “signifies my personal commitment to the international diplomacy that is needed in these historic times…Karen Hughes has been one of my most trusted and closest advisers, and she has the experience, expertise, and judgment to lead this critical effort…”
Except for Rove, there’s no one closer to Bush politically than Hughes who was an effective soldier in all of his state and national political battles. And supremely TOUGH. Have Al Qaeda and its propagandists finally met their match?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.