Just in time for Hillary Clinton's confirmation hearing, which is today, and in advance of her leader's farewell address to the nation, which is Thursday, Condi Rice spent some time with the Washington Post. She's desperately trying to spin the record of failure:
In a conversation that stretched to 75 minutes -- and which Rice seemed reluctant to end -- the secretary of state said she was counting the hours until Jan. 20. But she yielded little ground in defense of her record or the administration's performance over the past eight years. After being peppered with questions about regrets, she joked, "Aren't you going to say, 'Aren't you thrilled that . . .?' "Wow. Christmas is the sign of success. The Bush team is spending a lot of time trying to salvage its record of abject failure. Too bad they all didn't put as much time thinking through the policy as they're now putting in to spinning it.
What is more important than current controversies, she argued, slapping the table for emphasis, is how the decisions will look 25 or 30 years from now. "If you get very focused on whether someone thinks your policies are popular, you won't do the right thing," she said.
Arguing that Iraq shows signs of becoming an inclusive state -- it even "declared Christmas a national holiday" -- Rice said that if the country eventually emerges as a democratic, multiethnic state that has friendly ties with the United States, "that will be more important than what anybody thought in 2002 or 2003."
We are in the last throes of the Bush administration. It's almost over. It really is. And, unlike Condi, I think the Bush record will look even worse in 25 or 30 years.
