Visited by a Host of Administrations Past, Bush Hears Some Chastening Words

[saraphen]

WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 - Colin L. Powell said nothing - a silence that spoke volumes to many in the White House on Thursday morning.

His predecessor, Madeleine K. Albright, a bit stirred up after hearing an exceedingly upbeat 40-minute briefing to 13 former secretaries of state and defense about how well things are going in Iraq, asked President Bush whether, with the war "taking up all the energy" of his foreign policy team, he had let the nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea spin out of control and allowed Latin America and China policy suffer by neglect.

"I can't let this comment stand," Mr. Bush shot back, telling Ms. Albright and the rare assembly of her colleagues, who reached back to the Kennedy White House, that his administration "can do more than one thing at a time." The Bush administration, he insisted, had "the best relations of any country with Japan, China and Korea," and had active programs to make alliances around the world.

That was, it appears, one of the few heated moments during an unusual White House effort to bring some of its critics into the fold and provide a patina of bipartisan common ground to the strategy Mr. Bush has laid out in recent weeks for Iraq.

But if it was a bipartisan consultation, as advertised by the White House, it was a brief one. Mr. Bush allowed 5 to 10 minutes for interchange with the group - which included three veterans of the Vietnam era: Robert S. McNamara, Melvin R. Laird and James R. Schlesinger - before herding the whole group into the Oval Office for what he called a "family picture."

Those who wanted to impart more wisdom to the current occupants of the White House were sent back across the hall to meet again with Stephen J. Hadley, the national security adviser, and Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. But as several of the participants noted, by that time Mr. Bush, Vice President **** Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld had gone on to other meetings.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/06/politics/06prexy.html

Everybody smile pretty, but don't say anything!!

[DBlack]

So basically it was just a photo-op. His reaction to Mrs. Albright underscores the true attitude of this administration. They try to put on a great face, but can't stand any strong criticism whatsoever.

[charliekilothree]

I like the way General Powell is looking at Lawrence Eagleburger and Madeline Albright is looking somewhere else. They are probably saying something like "What a Goober GWB is for wasting our time."