Secretary of State Condi Rice gave an "exit interview" to CNN correspondent Zain Verjee that aired on Wednesday night’s Anderson Cooper 360, and Verjee asserted the Iraqi shoe-tossing incident was deeply representative: "It was really a symbol in so many ways ih the Arab world of utter contempt for President Bush...Does it bother you that with all the diplomacy that you’ve done, President Bush’s policies, the policies that you’ve carried out that the U.S. is so loathed around the world?"
Verjee also insisted: "Your critics say that really what happened was, was the North Koreans were just playing you like a violin." On 9/11 she asked: "The worst breach of national security in the history of the United States came under your watch....Did you ever consider resigning?" And: "One of the issues raised by some of your critics, they say that as National Security Advisor you were really steamrolled by Vice President Cheney, by former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, and didn’t present a broad enough view to the President. Do you think you did?"
This might be a little stunning for AC360, on which Cooper asked Barack Obama about Reverend Wright last March in a tone so soft it made Cooper look dumb: "Do you think what Reverend Wright said was unpatriotic or un-American?" Cooper didn’t quote critics, but only warned "in a general election, patriotism is going to be used by whoever it is who you are facing."
Verjee wrapped up the interview by asking if Rice voted for Obama (she avoided an answer) and "Was Sarah Palin a bad choice?" (Rice praised her as historic for women.) Near the start, Verjee quickly arrived on the shoe-tossing question:
VERJEE: Staying in Iraq, the shoe-throwing incident, it was really a symbol in so many ways in the Arab world of utter contempt for President Bush.
RICE: And it was one journalist among several who were sitting there respectfully, and I hope it isn’t allowed over time to obscure the fact that this was the President of the United States standing in Baghdad next to the democratically elected Shia Prime Minister of a multi-confessional Iraq that has just signed agreements of friendship and cooperation with the United States for the long term.
VERJEE: But the man may have been one journalist, but he was viewed throughout much of the Arab world as a real hero.
RICE: Oh, I –
VERJEE: My question is –
RICE: I have heard so many people –
VERJEE: My question to you is: Does it bother you that with all the diplomacy that you’ve done, President Bush’s policies, the policies that you’ve carried out that the U.S. is so loathed around the world?
RICE: Zain, the United States is not loathed. The policies of the United States are sometimes not liked. People don’t like that we’ve had to say hard things and do hard things about terrorism. People don’t like that we’ve spoken fiercely for the right of Israel to defend itself at the same time that we’ve advocated for a Palestinian state. But I have to go back. So many people in and around when that incident happened told me how embarrassed they were by the fact that that had happened. But the crux –
VERJEE: But didn’t it upset you? Didn’t it?
RICE: No, no, only that the focus of those who are supposed to be reporting for history didn’t focus on the historical moment, which is that this was the President of the United States in Baghdad, for goodness’ sakes, with a freely elected prime minister in a show of friendship. It didn’t get reported that the Iraqi band spent apparently several – all night trying to learn our national anthem and did it really rather well.
To most journalists, the idea of reporting a State Department publicity-handout story like the Iraqis learning their "Oh Say Can You Sees" probably sounds insulting. But change the administrations, and watch if CNN doesn’t provide Obama handout stories.
Rice has a point: the shoe-throwing is at bottom a publicity stunt, and not a poll or a realistic measure of progress in Iraq. It’s a nice publicity hook for media people who don’t want to acknowledge progress, but only embarrassment in Iraq. Verjee also lobbed these hardballs:
-- "What about North Korea? At every step in this deal, the North Koreans have made promises, they’ve broken them, they’ve made demands, you’ve made concessions, you’ve moved your red lines. Your critics say that really what happened was, was the North Koreans were just playing you like a violin."
-- "What about the Middle East? You really put in a lot of effort. And made progress when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But do you ever think to yourself, gosh, you know, I really wish that we started this kind of engagement a long time ago at the beginning of the Bush Administration, not toward the end? Do you ever think about that?"
-- "One of the issues raised by some of your critics, they say that as National Security Advisor you were really steamrolled by Vice President Cheney, by former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, and didn’t present a broad enough view to the President. Do you think you did?" Rice replied: "Certainly, the principals had their say, and as National Security Advisor I faithfully presented to the President what his principals were thinking – all of them."
