I was really struck by this photo , which graced the cover of Tuesday's New York Times, showing Ariel Sharon, Condoleeza Rice and James Baker attending a memorial of the late Yitzhak Rabin in Israel. There's something in that picture...in Rice's face, jaw set, eyes hidden behind rockstar sunglasses...and how she is flanked on either side by two men who've played hard-ball power politics for decades: Ariel Sharon, peering beneath his furrowed brow and, always conscious he is being observed, gesturing and thinking...and James Baker, completely hidden behind a permanent dimplomatic mask, an impenetrable sphinx. Of course, that photo sends a powerful message to the world. Rice was in Israel to do serious business . The fact that she brought Baker with her meant that the full weight of the U.S. military-industrial complex... the old guard ...was with her. That trip to Israel was important; and I would guess that U.S. plans and actions regarding Syria were part of that
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"As someone who occasionally contributes to The New Republic, I find this pissing match between the landed gentry and the mongrel hordes most distressing. There’s no reason why all of us can’t get along and join forces to defeat George Allen’s toupee, or at least acknowledge one another’s strengths/weaknesses/annoying habits without dragging the specter of Weimar across the carpet yet again."
....brought a big smile to my nodding face.
Wolcott, uh, you rock.