Posted on 03/21/2005 7:43:13 PM PST by neverdem
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
Austin, Tex.
SO what can we expect from Karen P. Hughes if she is confirmed as under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs? What steps will President Bush's confidante take to rehabilitate America's image in the Arab world and around the globe?
While reporters and Congressional staffers are combing Ms. Hughes's public statements, interviews and speeches in advance of her confirmation hearings, I accidentally stumbled into a little research project of my own. In my garage.
Back in 1976, Karen Hughes - then Karen Parfitt - was my star journalism student at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. At the end of the term, I did what I've traditionally done with work from some of my best students: I stuffed some of it into a cardboard box. (That box has now been stored in attics, garages and basements around the nation.)
During her years as a national figure, never have I explored that tattered old box or elected to write about Karen Hughes. In fact, the box probably would have gone untouched had the recent death of my father not moved me to go rummaging through materials I had stashed away years ago.
And what did I find? Well, first there was a 29-year-old, critter-friendly, half-eaten grade sheet, which lists Karen Parfitt as seated between Molly Sawyer and Marianne Seiler. Karen was in a late Thursday afternoon deadline reporting lab of only six students. The time slot wasn't popular with students who liked long weekends.
The yellowed grade sheet indicates the future Ms. Hughes made a B+ on that initial deadline undertaking, an exercise in which I barked out facts that students nervously tried to convert into a news article while I paced among them, ranting and raving in tough city-editor fashion.
Most students pounded feverishly, some of them panicked, on old Royal typewriters, but not Ms. Hughes.
From day one, she got my attention with her intense focus. Her steel-blue eyes shut out the rest of class and concentrated only on her words. Always, she finished first, ripping out her copy and cockily presenting it to me. I loved it.
I asked those lab students on that first day in the spring of 1976 to write a short biography and to discuss their ambitions. Ms. Hughes, then 19, typed out:
"The most important issue facing America is the question of her foreign policy. I have lived in other countries and seen anti-American feelings growing as totalitarian governments or a loss of democracy begin to sweep their country.
"I think America is in danger both internally from the dissentions of her own people on foreign policy and externally from the strong governments in the world which are not democratic."
As a journalism student in the heart of Texas, Karen Hughes was composing what has become the Bush doctrine. Perhaps her portfolio is not so "new."
In that same lab was Lawrence Ayo Ladigbolu, a 35-year-old from West Africa - and one of the university's few foreign students at the time and certainly the only African student in the journalism program.
Some of Mr. Ladigbolu's work was in my garage, too. Here's what he had to say about world affairs: "I think the most important issue facing America today is a general lack of confidence in the leaders and the subsequent loss of confidence in every body, because of Watergate and the recent disclosures about the C.I.A. and the F.B.I."
Ms. Hughes and Mr. Ladigbolu were the only students in the class with ardent interest in foreign affairs - for what then appeared to be different reasons. Karen Hughes's father was military and, at the time, governor of the Panama Canal Zone. Lawrence Ladigbolu's father was a Methodist minister. Over the course of the term, the two often talked about the larger world, but I don't recall the specifics of those chats.
What I do remember is that Karen Hughes tapped fast and hard on her old Royal that Thursday afternoon. Here's what she had to say about her ambitions: "My lifetime goal is to contribute in a positive way to whatever task I work at," adding, "My greatest personal asset is a dogged determination which only forces me to work harder at something when I have difficulty with it.
"My greatest personal liability," she typed on, "is perhaps trying to satisfy other people more often than thinking what is best for me." The under secretary-designate, given her loyal service to the president, is perhaps still burdened by that "liability."
Mr. Ladigbolu listed his liability as "a tendency to trust people too quickly."
In her new mission, perhaps Karen Hughes should find Lawrence Ladigbolu and resume the discussions they started so many years ago. I imagine that what they could learn from each other would enrich us all.
Bob Mann, press secretary to Senator Edward Kennedy from 1984 to 1987, lectures in journalism at the University of Texas, Texas State University and Huston-Tillotson University.
No politics here, just an old perfessor justifiably proud of his student. I kind of like the sound of her so far. Bush has certainly made some remarkable staffing choices.
The game I like to play when reading a NYT article is how many lines can I read before the bias comes out and I stop reading. Yesterday, on some FR post, it was three lines. Today, it is the second line..."What steps will President Bush's confidante take to REHABILITATE America's image in the Arab world and around the globe? What needs rehabilitation?
Interesting, and amazingly fair! In the NY Times, no less. If you've posted the entire piece I really am amazed.
But what of Karen Hughes, thought she went back to Texas to be with her family, now she'll be globe-trotting. What's up with that?
I love her btw, she is THE BEST. If I ever hit mega lotto, and she's through working for Bush, I'll find a way to hire her.
Is it just coincidence that when we find unguarded moments from the Bush White House, they appear exactly the same as they do in front of the camera? Can you say that about the Clinton White House? Or any other White House?
I post articles in their entirety unless I have to excerpt. I may rarely correct spelling errors.
I suppose her son graduated from high school. Maybe he's gone on to college. What a difference a couple of years makes.
"I kind of like the sound of her so far."
At the indulgence of repeating myself, let me say again SHE'S THE BEST. You don't remember her from the first campaign I surmise. You know what they say about the Bush family valuing loyalty, well I personally have always put loyalty very high on my list of values. Karen Hughes is the most loyal, most spot-on message-wise, most indefatiguable person I have even seen in such a role. Judging only by what's on TV, of course.
Say what you like about Bush, he's got the knack for picking the best to work for him.
"What a difference a couple of years makes."
Oy, you are right, it's like 5 years now, isn't it.
Tempus fugit!
This must be driving the inhabitants of a Certain Other Website stark raving nuts...
I'm stunned! Somebody that worked for Kennedy is not frothing at the mouth at a Bush appointee .. what is this world coming to.
Well .. that's easy - Bush made the whole world hate us .. I thought you knew that ..?? [/s]
I heard her son went off to college.
It is stunning isn't it?
Yes, Stanford.
And .. by having the best work for you - you can make the best decisions.
In contrast, the Clintons always surrounded themselves with people they considered of lesser stature so it would appear to make the Clintons more superior. These people are a contrast in superior/inferior complexes. Very dangerous people.
"My greatest personal liability," she typed on, "is perhaps trying to satisfy other people more often than thinking what is best for me." The under secretary-designate, given her loyal service to the president, is perhaps still burdened by that "liability."
Not so sure I agree this is pure reminiscing by the author. The above message seems to convey,"Hey Karen, be aware of your admitted liability and think for yourself. Don't be Bush's puppet."
"This must be driving the inhabitants of a Certain Other Website stark raving nuts..."
LOL! That's always fun to think about, isn't it.
He had kept papers from his best students. Karen was one.
It is my understanding that he read that directly from her paper.
You missed the point. By quoting her own writings, where she admits her weakness is being too loyal and not thinking for herself, he exorts her not to be too loyal to Bush, and think for herself instead. He's using what she candidly admitted as a personality weakness years ago to try to drive a wedge between her and the president today.
Sorry, if I wasn't clear the first time.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.