pictured at left: Carter Secretary of State, Cy Vance

The news that Jimmy “I’ll Submit” Carter has scheduled a sit-down with Hamas (Carter to Meet Hamas Leader: Jazeera) reminds one of the whole difference in tone between the Carter years and the Bush years.

“Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter plans to meet Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Syria next week, despite U.S. efforts to isolate the Islamist Palestinian group, Al Jazeera television said. Carter served one term between 1977 and 1981.”

There were many reasons Carter was an unlamented one-termer, but one stands out: his thankfully now-forgotten foreign policy, led by Secretary of State, the late Cyrus Vance. Carter and Company claimed it was a “human rights-oriented agenda”.

The rest of the world quickly translated that to mean something completely different, although there is some argument over whether it was “putz” or “pussy”.

Now, we always had a soft spot for native West Virginian Cyrus Vance, but whether it was working out on America’s enemies or just working out, he was no Condi Rice.

Darren Garnick, of the Boston Herald (and his own Darren Garnick’s Media Lab blog) takes it from here:

By now, surely you’ve heard that Condi Rice starts her “No Excuses” workout routine at 4:30 a.m. in the State Department gym. For a deep analysis on how this affects you, check out my Boston Herald column, “My secretary of state can beat up your foreign minister.”.

As Darren put it:

Condi’s hours on the treadmill watching SportsCenter have produced enviable results. She’s much buffer than her pudgy predecessor, Colin Powell. And Clinton’s people? Please. Madeleine Albright and Warren Christopher always looked like they were picked last in sixth-grade gym class.

Okay. But just how tough is Rice?

But as menacing as Secretary Rice looks on the bench press, she’s unlikely to ever intimidate Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Remember when he posed shirtless last summer during a Siberian fishing trip? Let’s just say he’s Ivan Drago, the steroids-loving blond boxer in “Rocky IV.” Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama should rethink those comparisons they’ve been making to Rocky Balboa [trailer]. Based on his pin-up, it looks like Putin could pummel a Democratic tag team and McCain in the ring.

Maybe Rice would be the underdog in a Putin-Rice cage match, but the smart money would have been on Condi in a Boris Yeltsin-Rice 10K run–especially if she could’ve negotiated a few toasts for the pre-race ceremonies.

But Darren noticed something about how Rice’s workouts were covered.

But what’s puzzling to me is how gingerly Fitness magazine is trumpeting their scoop. In her introduction to Condi’s bench press photo spread, Editor-in-Chief Denise Brodey is almost apologetic that she’s not profiling a Democrat fitness nut like Nancy Pelosi.

I confess I don’t know what Pelosi’s HDL/LDL ratio is or if she even works out.

I just know that Condi’s sin is that she’s too conservative.

“I had to wonder,” Brodey writes, “how does one of the most controversial figures in the White House today seem to shut it all down, throw on a sports bra and let the pressures of the day slide off her back?”

“Whether you are a fan of hers, Rice’s sheer will to succeed is inspiring. Here she shares how fitness keeps her sane…”

Condaleezza Rice is buff and ready.

Poor Cyrus Vance is no around no longer. He passed on to a greater reward in 2002. Jimmy Carter, however, is still with us and still insisting that he matters in U.S foreign policy. Use his meeting with Hamas as a snapshot of his foreign policy competence.

Carter’s talking with a group who view negotiations as a period of time used to recover from setbacks. And he’s talking with them about an issue that they’ve sworn not to talk about: peace with an Israel they have vowed to destroy (Carter, Hamas: Jimmy Needs to Make the Call).

Too bad Carter didn’t have a Condi Rice around during his presidential tenure–for when the going got tough. One suspects he wouldn’t have listened to her.

But, in that case, something good might have happened.

Condi might have beaten his foreign policy into submission.

by Mondoreb
Sources:
* un
* My secretary of state can beat your foreign minister
* Do Republican women read fitness magazines?


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