Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (57685)	11/19/2002 12:41:14 AM
From: tekboy	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 281500

I've thought the first two outtakes from the Woodward book have been quite weak--no analysis (to be expected, given Woodward's "notebook dump" approach to reporting), but also nothing particularly new or interesting (unexpected, given his usual haul of gossip). The only thing I was really struck by so far was the seeming confirmation that Rice is more concerned to avoid saying anything controversial than she is to deliver any particular policy view. I wonder if Woodward, or she, understands, for example, just how damning this passage actually is: "Do you think it's working?" Rice did not really answer. "We have a good plan," the president said. "You're confident in it?" Rice intentionally ducked. She was unwilling to take a firm position, worried it might tilt further discussion, close off options. Also, she was unsure. She felt most comfortable when she knew precisely what the president was thinking, so she was sounding him out. But the president was on his chosen course, and he had not really thought of shifting strategies. Fancy New Yorker profile or not, that's a glimpse of a consummate ambitious apparatchik at work... tb@sad.com