'Selling' America
Harold's List
October 11, 2005; Page A16 Wall Street Journal
Karen Hughes is back from her first trip to the Middle East as Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy, and the reviews have not been flattering. "Dangerous folly," declares Sidney Blumenthal, the former Clinton aide who knows something about propaganda (if not public diplomacy). "Hughes is helping bin Laden," adds Robert Pape of the University of Chicago.
Well, so much for liberal understatement. We, too, could pick nits with Ms. Hughes' performance, particularly on matters of style and presentation. But give her credit for this: At least she didn't try to "sell" the U.S. like a box of Wheaties. That was the concept of the first person to hold the job, Charlotte Beers, a Madison Avenue executive who thought improving America's image abroad was a matter of redefining our "brand." Ms. Beers didn't last two years in the job; her successor didn't last one.
Ms. Hughes clearly grasps that America's greatest "selling point" is our freedom, a theme she returned to repeatedly on her trip. Speaking to an audience of Saudi women in Jeddah, Ms. Hughes offered the example of driving -- something women in the Kingdom are legally banned from doing -- to make the essential point.
"I believe women should be full and equal participants in society," she said. "And I feel as an American woman that my ability to drive is an important part of my freedom. It has allowed me to work during my career, it has allowed me to go to the grocery store and shop for my family, it allows me to go to the doctor. It gives me a measure, an important measure, of independence." Contrast this to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's refusal even to broach the same topic: The right of Saudi women to drive, she said, is "just a line that I have not wanted to cross."
Ms. Hughes was also eloquent when speaking to a group of Egyptian students -- beneficiaries of American scholarships -- at the American University of Cairo. Asked politely whether U.S. policy in Egypt gave priority to economic development or political reform, she turned the questions on the students:
"You all want to be free to express yourselves, don't you? Do you want to be free to speak up? Do you want to be able to choose your leaders? Do you want to be involved in the future of your country? Of course you do; I see a lot of nodding heads."
Ms. Hughes had a less congenial reception in Turkey. In Ankara, the U.S. embassy negligently arranged a meeting with a left-wing women's group; they blasted her with familiar blather about the supposed impossibility of exporting democracy through war and references to Cindy Sheehan. Ms. Hughes parried as best she could, but the meeting did more to reflect the debased state of political discourse in Turkey than it did the Undersecretary's rhetorical skills.
All in all, then, Ms. Hughes acquitted herself honorably on this maiden voyage, and we hope she keeps at it. There is an inherent PR difficulty in trying to promote freedom in places like Saudi Arabia, where the audiences, if not handpicked, are monitored by the government and careful not to stray far from an approved line.
But there is also an opportunity, which Ms. Hughes exploited, to use the prestige of her office (and her famous friendship with President Bush) to state truths that no Saudi herself could utter: That she ought to be able to drive, to travel freely, to vote and to participate as social and political equals in Saudi society. By contrast, when three Saudi men -- Ali al-Dumaini, Matruk al-Falih and Abdullah al-Hamid -- sought to circulate a petition merely calling for a constitutional monarchy, they were given prison sentences of six to nine years..
More broadly, the key to Ms. Hughes' success lies in maintaining the pace and pressure for reform. Lurid minds may persist in believing that Mr. Bush's democracy agenda is being driven by oil interests, or Zionist interests, or both. But free elections this year in Iraq and among Palestinians, competitive elections in Egypt, the departure of Syrian troops from Lebanon and Israel's withdrawal from Gaza are facts even al-Jazeera cannot deny. The more President Bush challenges the autocratic status quo, the more Ms. Hughes will have to talk about on future journeys, and the better she'll be received.
October 11, 2005; Page A16 Wall Street Journal
Karen Hughes is back from her first trip to the Middle East as Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy, and the reviews have not been flattering. "Dangerous folly," declares Sidney Blumenthal, the former Clinton aide who knows something about propaganda (if not public diplomacy). "Hughes is helping bin Laden," adds Robert Pape of the University of Chicago.
Well, so much for liberal understatement. We, too, could pick nits with Ms. Hughes' performance, particularly on matters of style and presentation. But give her credit for this: At least she didn't try to "sell" the U.S. like a box of Wheaties. That was the concept of the first person to hold the job, Charlotte Beers, a Madison Avenue executive who thought improving America's image abroad was a matter of redefining our "brand." Ms. Beers didn't last two years in the job; her successor didn't last one.
Ms. Hughes clearly grasps that America's greatest "selling point" is our freedom, a theme she returned to repeatedly on her trip. Speaking to an audience of Saudi women in Jeddah, Ms. Hughes offered the example of driving -- something women in the Kingdom are legally banned from doing -- to make the essential point.
"I believe women should be full and equal participants in society," she said. "And I feel as an American woman that my ability to drive is an important part of my freedom. It has allowed me to work during my career, it has allowed me to go to the grocery store and shop for my family, it allows me to go to the doctor. It gives me a measure, an important measure, of independence." Contrast this to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's refusal even to broach the same topic: The right of Saudi women to drive, she said, is "just a line that I have not wanted to cross."
Ms. Hughes was also eloquent when speaking to a group of Egyptian students -- beneficiaries of American scholarships -- at the American University of Cairo. Asked politely whether U.S. policy in Egypt gave priority to economic development or political reform, she turned the questions on the students:
"You all want to be free to express yourselves, don't you? Do you want to be free to speak up? Do you want to be able to choose your leaders? Do you want to be involved in the future of your country? Of course you do; I see a lot of nodding heads."
Ms. Hughes had a less congenial reception in Turkey. In Ankara, the U.S. embassy negligently arranged a meeting with a left-wing women's group; they blasted her with familiar blather about the supposed impossibility of exporting democracy through war and references to Cindy Sheehan. Ms. Hughes parried as best she could, but the meeting did more to reflect the debased state of political discourse in Turkey than it did the Undersecretary's rhetorical skills.
All in all, then, Ms. Hughes acquitted herself honorably on this maiden voyage, and we hope she keeps at it. There is an inherent PR difficulty in trying to promote freedom in places like Saudi Arabia, where the audiences, if not handpicked, are monitored by the government and careful not to stray far from an approved line.
But there is also an opportunity, which Ms. Hughes exploited, to use the prestige of her office (and her famous friendship with President Bush) to state truths that no Saudi herself could utter: That she ought to be able to drive, to travel freely, to vote and to participate as social and political equals in Saudi society. By contrast, when three Saudi men -- Ali al-Dumaini, Matruk al-Falih and Abdullah al-Hamid -- sought to circulate a petition merely calling for a constitutional monarchy, they were given prison sentences of six to nine years..
More broadly, the key to Ms. Hughes' success lies in maintaining the pace and pressure for reform. Lurid minds may persist in believing that Mr. Bush's democracy agenda is being driven by oil interests, or Zionist interests, or both. But free elections this year in Iraq and among Palestinians, competitive elections in Egypt, the departure of Syrian troops from Lebanon and Israel's withdrawal from Gaza are facts even al-Jazeera cannot deny. The more President Bush challenges the autocratic status quo, the more Ms. Hughes will have to talk about on future journeys, and the better she'll be received.
posted by Marko at 10/11/2005 09:18:00 PM
<< Home