Remember This? A Year Ago Today

I have a knack for remembering things like this one:

“This kind of survey is imprecise and misleading.”

“It is a snapshot of a self-selecting group, and should not be understood to reflect the views of the nearly 12,000 members of the Foreign Service.”

“She stands in the great tradition of George Marshall, George Shultz and Colin Powell as a Secretary committed to the State Department as an institution, the Foreign Service as an organization, and Foreign Service Officers as individuals.”

“Finally, she has made the State Department the center of our foreign policy process. For those who care about the Foreign Service, nothing could be more important. None of us joined the Foreign Service because of salary, benefits, or locality pay. We joined because we want to serve our country and make a difference in the world. Under Secretary Rice's leadership, we are again at the helm. In the Western Hemisphere, the results are palpable and positive. I am proud to serve under such a fine person and a great Secretary of State.”

Thomas Shannon Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs January 9, 2008 DipNote post on the AFSA Survey (Read his full blog entry here)

map from cdc.gov

My heart is broken every time I read this, really - what helm was he looking at? DOD IS AT THE REAL HELM, how do you copy over? Sigh! … Brooking's Partnership for the America's Commission has recently released a report noting the need for a new hemispheric partnership to address key transnational challenges:

Today, several changes in the region have made a hemispheric partnership both possible and necessary. The key challenges faced by the United States and the hemisphere’s other countries—such as securing sustainable energy supplies, combating and adapting to climate change, and combating organized crime and drug trafficking—have become so complex and deeply transnational that they cannot be managed or overcome by any single country. At the same time, the LAC countries are diversifying their international economic and political relations, making them less reliant on the United States. Finally, the LAC countries are better positioned than before to act as reliable partners.

These guys at Brookings are real funny! Sounds like they did not know who's been doing "palpable and positive" over at the Western Hemisphere these last four years.