A Real Secretary of State, At Last

Condi keeps impressing:

THIRTY-FIVE THOUSAND FEET OVER CHINA--Condoleezza Rice likes to say "the time for diplomacy is now." For George Bush's second-term secretary of state, now is also the time for travel.

As she approaches the halfway point of her first year in office, Rice has logged more miles (152,231) and alighted in more countries (35) than any previous secretary of state in the same period of time. Her four-nation swing through Asia, which ended last week, netted an elusive diplomatic goal: bringing North Korea back into six-nation talks to eliminate its nuclear-weapons programs. "It turned out," Rice remarked on the way home on her Air Force Boeing 757, "to be a very good time. . . to come to Asia."

Rice jetted off from Andrews Air Force Base near Washington at midday July 8, and over the next 124 hours, she flew 18,826 miles over 43 hours; made three refueling stops; took two helicopter rides; participated in meetings in China, Thailand, Japan, and South Korea; watched children sing and dance; and repeatedly performed the ritual grip-and-grin. If it was Tuesday, it must be Japan--and South Korea, too. The pace was felt by all. "The worst sleep I ever had," muttered one staffer after an overnight flight.

And yet, the sleep deprivation proved worthwhile. At the start, Rice said her trip aimed to "bring together all of these strands" of diplomatic activity to draw mercurial North Korea back to the negotiating table. As she arrived in Beijing on a Saturday night, Rice got word that an aide had just received Pyongyang's pledge to return to negotiations the week of July 25--with the avowed goal of complete denuclearization.

Checking in. Rice seems to have taken to heart the criticism of her friend and mentor, Colin Powell, who, some charge, stayed in Washington too much while relations with friends abroad frayed. She also enjoys a special advantage: Every foreign leader she meets knows she is Bush's close friend--and unquestionably speaks for him on foreign policy. Gone are the days of doubting State Department pre-eminence in foreign policy.

Amazing how much better the environment is without a backstabbing weasel like Colin Powell playing Washington gossip games instead of doing his job.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if Powell was the one who leaked Valerie Plame's identity to Judith Miller?

Nah, that kind of perfect joy is denied us until the afterlife, I'm sure.