Does Anyone Remember James Baker?
Reported by Marie Therese - August 13, 2004 -
The Big Story with John Gibson. August 10, 2004.
KERRY'S FOREIGN POLICY 5:21 PM to 5:27 PM EDT
Guests: Dr. Susan Rice, Kerry's Foreign Policy Advisor and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX)
It was obvious that the "word of the day" for August 10th was "waffle". Not the word for the food you eat but the word that's a synonym for "flip-flop". Throughout this entire six minute segment, the lower third graphic showed two words "WAR WAFFLE?".
Most of the discussion was a rehash of the usual blather: Kerry waffles, Bush misleads, Kerry has no foreign policy, Bush has no exit strategy.
Dr. Rice proved to be a refreshing change to the usual Democrats. She used some of Gibson's favorite techniques on him: Interrupting and overtalking. It was a treat to see a Democrat on the offensive for a change.
However, one thing struck me as interesting and new. Sen. Hutchinson said at one point: "Let's look at those allies that a President Kerry would want to bring in. Every one of them have a financial interest in Iraq. THEY WON'T EVEN ALLOW THEIR DEBTS TO BE WRITTEN OFF (my emphasis). That's how ingrained in Iraq France and Germany and Russia are."
I was really surprised by this. The last I heard James Baker III was having a lot of success in persuading Iraq's biggest debtors to forgive all or part of the Iraqi debt they are carrying.
From the White House website President's Speech to the War College, May 24, 2004:
"And thanks in part to our efforts -- to the efforts of former Secretary of State James Baker, many of Iraq's largest creditors have pledged to forgive or substantially reduce Iraqi debt incurred by the former regime."
Mr. Baker was heralded as a master negotiator. Perhaps he's discovered that this job is a lot tougher than at first assumed?
