See Karen Run

Karen Hughes, undeterred by press reports of a disastrous first visit abroad as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, is in Indonesia and Malaysia this weekend as part of her continuing “listening tour”. The State Department has thoughtfully posted some charming photos of Karen with a few friendly and smiling Muslims in Jakarta where Karen participated in an iftar, something western politicians patronizingly seem to think impresses Muslims no end. (Since Ms. Hughes has no Muslims on her staff, perhaps she thinks that acting like one from time to time does the trick.) Muslims, dear Karen, will not think better of America simply because you join them in the breaking of their Ramadan fast, a fast that they know, incidentally, you yourself are not keeping. But chow down.

Unlike her maiden voyage to the Islamic world, this time Karen’s trip is a little less of a media circus. Even the Indonesian press has been relatively mute on the visit of America’s P.R. Czarina to the world’s most populous Muslim country. The American taxpayer, of course, other than funding some gratuitous photo ops to color the State Department website, has funded another “learning experience” for Karen who is sure to brief President Bush as soon as she gets back to civilization, where women drive and people don’t fast for a whole month. And what can she tell George? That everywhere she goes she meets hostile audiences with hostile questions? (And these are audiences handpicked by U.S. Embassies.)

Public Diplomacy ought to be a non-partisan endeavor. I’m not attacking Ms. Hughes because she’s a Republican, nor even because she’s too close to Mr. Bush and the “cabal” in the White House. I’m just dismayed that Karen Hughes is exhibiting such jejuneness in her approach to an incredibly sensitive job, a job which even under the difficult circumstances of defending an indefensible foreign policy, can still be performed with professionalism and a good degree of common sense thrown in. And in case anyone thinks there’s never anything to defend the Bush administration on, this very week the State Department issued a press release outlining a particular instance of direct U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority. Fifty million dollars, a paltry sum, to be sure, compared to (mostly military) aid to Israel, but a little piece of information that assuredly will not get through to the Islamic world (even if it’s reported on U.S. radio or television programs beamed to the region). An Islamic world which continues to believe that the U.S. does absolutely nothing for the Palestinian people: perhaps the single biggest issue for Muslims who “don’t like us”, or at least Muslims who don’t-like-us-so-much-that-they- want-to-blow-us-up. So, what is Karen going to do about that?