Picking and Choosing

Observant readers may have noticed (not on this blog, but in the news) a few weeks ago that Nancy Pelosi was roundly criticized by the President, his administration, and Republicans of all shapes and sizes when she and a diplomatic envoy went to Syria and met with some high mucketymucks. Presumably, her trip was a response to the Iraq Study Group's recommendation to engage Mid-East actors in high level negotiations and encourage them to withdraw support from terrorist organizations and to close their borders to Iraq, effectively shutting off the pipeline of weapons and foreign-born Iraqi terrorists.

Still, White House spokesperson Dana Perino claimed, "We do not encourage and, in fact, we discourage members of Congress to make such visits to Syria. This is a country that is a state sponsor of terror.... I don't know what she is trying to accomplish, and I don't know if anyone in the administration has spoken to her about it. In general, we do discourage such trips.... I know that Assad probably really wants people to come and have a photo opportunity and have tea with him, and have discussions about where they're coming from, but we do think that's a really bad idea." A spokesperson for the State Department argued that "it's not the right time to have those high-profile visitors to Syria." Mitt Romney called her visit "outrageous," and said "It's a very bad idea to be carrying out a separate and independent foreign policy from the president of the United States. I just don't know what got into her head, to be completely honest with you. I think it was a huge, huge mistake." Indeed, silly woman, I don't know what got into you. You leave that there difficult diplomacy to the menfolk.

Anyway, most media outlets, and the whole of conservative pundits and politicians said nothing about the visits of Republican congressmen Wolf, Pitts, and Aderholf two days before Pelosi's trip. Indeed, they all met with President Assad, but Pelosi was the only one singled out.

Now, in a stunning reversal of policy, the White House has decided to engage Syria in diplomacy on its own. At a conference in Egypt, Rice had "constructive and transparent" talks with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem over securing its borders with Iraq. It was the first meeting on the ministerial-level in more than two years. On a related note, Major General William Caldwell pointed out that "There has been a reduction in the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq for more than a month." Of course, there has been no criticism of Rice's meeting.

The Common Man does not know whether Pelosi's trip has had any discernable effect on Syria's foreign policy. But both the White House and Ms. Pelosi should be commended for their efforts to encourage Syria, in a face-to-face manner, to change their policies regarding their support of Hezbollah, their interference in Lebanon's internal affairs, and their lax border security. Yet, the differing reactions to the two meetings points out the height of hypocrasy at work in this administration. Indeed, between alternately giving "Brownie" and George Tenets medals of freedom and using them as scapegoats at the first sign that they are breaking from the administration's line (not that they weren't, in reality, incompetant and blundersome), the marginalization of Colin Powell, and the singling out of Speaker Pelosi, it's a wonder that anyone trusts and supports this administration anymore.