09:56 am
How to Become a Good Delegator
I don’t really have a joke here. I just found this interesting. Bush announced “the designation of a Presidential Delegation to the Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Games.”
The Honorable Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State, will lead the delegation.
The Honorable Elaine L. Chao, Secretary of Labor
The Honorable Michael O. Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services
The Honorable Clark T. Randt, Jr, U.S. Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China
The Honorable Karen Hughes, Global Vice Chair of Burson-Marsteller
Mr. Peter Ueberroth, President of the United States Olympic Committee
Ms. Michelle Kwan, Figure Skating Champion and American Public Diplomacy Envoy
So Karen Hughes gets to go, but not James K. Glassman, her successor as Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy. No Democrats. And no Members of Congress. Wouldn’t want those pesky Members of Congress around to ask questions about Tibet or the Falun Gong or dissidents, now, would we?
So this got me thinking. What if the President had the guts to name a different kind of delegation, one that would raise human rights issues with the Chinese? Would would be on it? Here are my suggestions — I’ve tried to make it bipartisan:
The Honorable Harold Hongju Koh, Dean of the Yale Law School and former Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, will lead the delegation.
The Honorable Frank Wolf, Member of Congress
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Member of Congress
Bette Bao Lord, Chair emeritus of Freedom House and best-selling author.
Harry Wu, noted Chinese-American human rights activist
Joey Cheek, 2006 gold medal winner in speed skating & President of Team Darfur
Richard Gere, actor and Tibet activist
Now that’s a delegation. I wonder if the Chinese would even let them off the plane.
Who would you pick?