US gets new PR boss (Your Tax Money Going To Fund the Bush Campaign)

Hughes, who has been at Bush's side since his days as Texas governor and was instrumental in his two successful runs for the presidency, pledged to bridge the gap between the US and hostile parts of the world.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/353E3E16-4183-4746-9D45-D26A77B6F554.htm

The image of the United States has taken a beating over the past 10 days, as foreign television and newspapers show images of death, chaos and disease in New Orleans. Even lowly Bangladesh (per capita income: $400 a year) was moved to send $1 million in foreign aid.

But Karen Hughes has another view. The Bush confidante, now undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, held a meeting with her staff in Foggy Bottom yesterday and was asked about the international ramifications of the response to the New Orleans flooding. The problem, Hughes replied, was not a failed relief effort but a foreign press that did not appreciate the federal government's good work.

The image of the United States has taken a beating over the past 10 days, as foreign television and newspapers show images of death, chaos and disease in New Orleans. Even lowly Bangladesh (per capita income: $400 a year) was moved to send $1 million in foreign aid.

But Karen Hughes has another view. The Bush confidante, now undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, held a meeting with her staff in Foggy Bottom yesterday and was asked about the international ramifications of the response to the New Orleans flooding. The problem, Hughes replied, was not a failed relief effort but a foreign press that did not appreciate the federal government's good work.
...
Yet the Bush administration, whether discussing Iraq or Katrina, remains unfailingly upbeat. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, introducing Hughes, said nothing of Katrina as she repeated the Bush mantra that "freedom is on the march."

Hughes picked up the theme. "We have to offer a positive vision of hope," she began. As if preparing troops for combat, she described her plans for improving world opinion of the United States: a "rapid-response unit," a plan to "forward-deploy regional SWAT teams" and create "a dual-headed DAS for public diplomacy."

One of her underlings rose to ask how this effort squared with the administration's famously tight control over its message. "Recently, we've had tremendous amount of difficulty in some cases getting clearance for our ambassadors to speak," he said.

Hughes replied that ambassadors are free to talk -- if they use the talking points she sends them. "If they make statements based on something I sent them," she said, "they're not going to be called on the carpet."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/08/AR2005090801788.html

Echoing Bush’s position that the “war on terror” was also a war of ideas, Hughes told a meeting of State Department employees, “Our overall mission is to put in place a long-term strategy to ensure that our ideas prevail.”

She said the strategy was three-pronged: to develop a “positive vision of hope” in promoting worldwide democracy, to isolate religious extremists and to foster a sense of common values with cultures overseas. Hughes pledged a more aggressive response to false or misleading information circulating about the United States.

“We’ll create a rapid response unit here at the State Department, it’s already in the works, to monitor media and help us more aggressively respond to rumors, inaccuracies and hate speech,” Hughes said.

The State Department also planned to “forward-deploy regional SWAT teams,” Hughes said, referring to the ideological equivalent of police commandos in US cities called in to deal with dangerous crises. Their job, she said, would be to “look at the big picture and formulate a more strategic and focused approach to all our public diplomacy assets; not just country by country, but within a region of the world.” Hughes heralded a concerted effort to use technology, particularly the Internet, to spread the word through web chat rooms, digital video and even text messaging.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_10-9-2005_pg4_1