Whatever happened to Karen Hughes, the erstwhile media maven/power nanny to President Bush? With considerable fanfare, she was announced last year as the new Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. Her charge: Burnish the U.S. image abroad, especially in the Middle East.
A year and a half removed and nothing much is going right in the Middle East. We still don’t talk to those most responsible, and America’s controversial role in Iraq has helped fuel a jihadi pep rally with a worrisome, worldwide ripple effect. And arguably all of the moral high ground generated by 9/11 has been eroded.
But imagine the PR hit if we didn’t have a Secretary of Spin?