It's The Loyalty Stupid!

Anytime I am agreeing with Bill O'Reilly that Bill Clinton would be a better choice for Secretary of State than Condi Rice, you know the doubts about Bush's choice are serious and far reaching. But, I think we've learned that experience is not one of the requirements for members of Bush's cabinet. It's loyalty.

"'Condoleezza Rice was loyal to the president, and clearly has his confidence, but she never really managed the inter-agency process the way a national security adviser should,' said Joseph Cirincione, an arms control expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 'Most of the world will see Condi Rice as a step down from Colin Powell, and they would be right. She doesn't bring much experience or knowledge of the world to this position.'
There were reports yesterday that Mr Powell had hesitated before resigning as secretary of state. Although he had long said he would stand down after serving a single term, the Washington Post reported that he had recently expressed a desire to stay, but had been rebuffed by the White House.

'The president is trading off multiple viewpoints in favour of policy coherence, but the risk is that you are liable to be surprised by events that you hadn't anticipated,' said Raymond Tanter, who was on the national security council under Ronald Reagan. 'If the focus is on the global war on terror then the issues are simpler with respect to the demands they make on her skills. But if the focus is on postwar reconstruction of rogue regimes - the next Iraq - then you need to build a coalition of the willing, which takes considerable skill.'"

Seriously going to take up Yoga so I can keep breathing properly over the next four years.