The Foreign Service Journal, February 2006

10 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 6 The ‘Draft Rice for President’ Campaign In a mid-November poll of “Republicans 2008,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice trumped Sen- ator John McCain, R-Ariz., for presi- dential preference by three points — 24 percent to his 21 percent ( www. RasmussenReports.com ). Only for- mer New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who received a 26-percent rating among Republican voters, topped Rice. It was only one of the more recent incidents in which Rice’s name has fig- ured in future electoral calculations. Though she has repeatedly said she is not interested in running for elective office, an active grass-roots “Condi for President” campaign and Web site ( www.Rice2008.com ) has been up and running for some time. Mathew Reid, who founded the effort, says his mission is “to persuade Condi to run for office and to help get her elected.” To some extent the assumption of Hillary Clinton’s presidential ambition has fueled the “Draft Rice” campaign. “There is one, and only one, figure in America who can stop Hillary Clinton: Secretary of State Condoleezza ‘Condi’ Rice. Among all of the possi- ble Republican candidates for presi- dent, Condi alone could win the nom- ination, defeat Hillary, and derail a third Clinton administration,” declare Dick Morris and Eileen McGann in their book, Condi vs. Hillary: The Next Great Presidential Race (Regan Books, 2005), the first chapter of which was excerpted in the New York Times on Christmas Day ( www.ny times.com/2005/12/25/books/chap ters/1225-1st-morris.html ). Whether a race between these two women is “a very real possibility,” as the Morris book claims, is open to question. Should it come about, how- ever, it would certainly be “one of the most fascinating and important races in American history.” “Model” Development Plan Under Fire in Chad On Jan. 6, World Bank President Paul D. Wolfowitz announced that all bank aid to Chad was suspended. The move came after Chad’s parliament moved to officially weaken controls over the flow of oil revenues that had been a condition for World Bank sup- port for the 650-mile oil pipeline pro- ject enabling the landlocked nation to export its oil ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/ 2/hi/business/4588412.stm ). It was the first serious test of the World Bank president’s commitment to fight corruption, and he acted only after hours of discussion with Chad’s President Idriss Deby proved fruit- less. Wolfowitz emphasized that he hopes continued dialogue will find common ground. At stake is a model oil revenue management program that was a showcase for the bank’s commitment to transparency and poverty-eradica- tion ( http://allafrica.com/stories/ printable/200512060077.html ). Under the agreement, only 15 per- cent of the revenues could be direct- ed to general government coffers. Another 10 percent were to be set aside in a Future Generations Fund for the post-oil era. The rest was to be channeled into priority sectors such as health, education, social services and rural development. 50 Years Ago... Today foreign policy is carried out, or confused, also by contacts with ministries of commerce, finance, industry, interior, education, etc... In many foreign countries today the impact of our military personnel overshadows conventional diplomatic contacts. For most of my service abroad, I have been struck by one recurrent problem — lack of sufficient, trained regular Foreign Service officers ... In Washington one finds that foreign policy is made or influenced in a score of agencies besides the State Department, most of them without any Foreign Service officers at all. — H.G. Torbert Jr., from “Increased Functions Demand a Larger Service,” in Letters to the Editors, FSJ , February 1956. C YBERNOTES