Rice's trip focuses on detente, discipline, details

Chicago Tribune ^ | February 11, 2005 | Cam Simpson

[Murtyo]

WASHINGTON -- From the moment she landed in London last week on the first leg of her inaugural diplomacy tour, the gaze of Europe smothered Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, focusing on the big picture--such as troubles with Iran--and the tiniest details, including her Italian pumps. "I don't think I've ever seen that many cameras," Rice marveled after an appearance last Friday in Berlin. But if Rice was surprised by the attention, her team seemed more than prepared to try to handle and manage it. Across about 40 interviews or media events, seven days and nine countries in Europe and the Middle East...

[Murtyo]

"That is not to say there weren't moments that seemed both unplanned and genuine for Rice. In Shannon, Ireland, where her plane stopped to refuel on the way home, Rice shook hands with or embraced what seemed to be scores of American soldiers passing through the airport lounge on their way back from Iraq. She thanked nearly all of them personally for their service and posed for snapshot after snapshot, with no television cameras anywhere in sight." WHAT A CLASSY LADY