Chewable Bite

Greetings from sunny San Diego (well, actually, sunny Rancho Bernardo – same diff’).

Today, I’m starting a new feature that I call the Chewable Bite.

Faithful readers of this humble web log will know that brevity is a growth area for me. If it can be said in 100 words, I will find a way to say it in 10,000.

In an effort to practice brevity, I’m installing this new feature. It gives me 250 words or less to make a specific point (check my work - count how many words I used, but don’t count the title or this intro…).


Chewable Bite: A Net Loss at the Secretary of State Position

Powell is leaving. It appears that Rice will replace him (I secretly have a crush on Rice and hate myself for it, but that is the nature of crushes, dear reader; they’re not always explainable). It is ironic that the biggest dove on the President’s Cabinet was a retired General. In other words, the guy who’d actually seen combat was the voice of reason – primarily, I think, because he was not able to romanticize war.

Powell is admirable on a number of levels, but chief among them is his independent spirit. The man made an outstanding career in a profession that rewards toeing the line and lock-step marching to orders. And yet, he had the presence and strength to question key policy initiatives even though expediency and popularity would compel him to be the proverbial team player.

Rice, by contrast, has established herself as a yes-woman. Her testimony before the 9/11 Commission is a study in revisionist thinking. She’s a crafty wordsmith. As much as I admire her as a person, I see her as the sort of ambitious opportunist that proves up the popular axiom about where good guys finish. But hey, congratulations on your promotion, Con!

You can tell a lot about a person by the hiring decisions they make. The previous cabinet and the cabinet soon to replace them speak volumes about President Bush. What it says: he likes assent, disfavors independence; he has ideas and just wants faithful foot soldiers to march in formation behind him.