"Bush administration has ADD. Condi Rice goes from photo op to photo op."

[Bluebear]

...Rice will travel to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and to the West Bank to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. But in a move that illustrates the sensitivity of U.S. allies in the Mideast, Rice is not expected to visit any major Arab capitals, confining her diplomacy to meetings in Rome.

Even some traditional Bush administration allies in foreign-policy circles are pessimistic about Rice's trip.

Michael Rubin, a Middle East expert who worked for the U.S. provisional government in Iraq, gives Rice only a 20 percent chance of success, mainly because of the difficulty of rallying world pressure on Hezbollah sponsors Iran and Syria to rein in the guerrillas.

"The Bush administration has attention-deficit disorder. Condi Rice goes from photo op to photo op, but there doesn't seem to be sustained pressure on any one problem," Rubin said, meaning the two nations can simply wait out the White House and resist pressure to change.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-worice0722,0,2598696.story?coll=ny-leadworldnews-headlines

[tanyev]

1. Who needs policy when you have really great sound bites and photo ops?

[hatrack]

2. That's it in a nutshell

Thanks, Tanyev!

[Pale Blue Dot]

3. 20% is too high.

I give her 0%.