Fred Kaplan Wants Karen Hughes Back in the US

To put it mildly Fred Kaplan is not a huge fan of W's and that tends to color his commentary but every now and then he raises valid points. Kaplan is confused about Karen Hughes' MidEast tour noting that she is not necessarily the best person to be conducting public diplomacy. He contrasts her with Phil Donahue's best friend the infamous Vladimir Posner. Posner was a tool of the Kremlin during the Cold War, but the man sounded like the guy next door. Well assuming that the guy next door was a KGB agent and had a poster Leonid Brezhnev hanging over his bed.

Kaplan's point is that we need someone who understands Arab culture, that speaks the language and can associate with the people that they are dealing with. I believe that Karen Hughes was a good selection to head our public diplomacy efforts, but she should be organizing, strategizing and planning the things that she did to get W into the White House. During the 2000 campaign and the early days of the administration she had Ari Fleischer in front of the cameras. That is what she needs now a face and a voice to our efforts.