I'm constantly amazed by these people. 6 years of one public relations campaign after another, bouncing back and forth between photo-ops and poll tested phrases, costumes and props, painted backdrops and mission accomplished. I was never big on carnival rides and I was tired of this one in the spring of 2001.
What's amazed me today? Karen Hughes in all her PR glory, that's what.
Think Progress has gotten hold of a leaked memo (pdf) titled, get this, Thinking Bigger, and it details her "plan" for Iraq. A sample below...
- Substantially expand...[the] "Micro scholarship" program...targeted at youth in key disadvantaged areas in Iraq, such as Sadr City or Anbar Governorate."
- Create a fund to support media projects by Iraqis, such as documentaries, short films, animation, audio-visual productions and other material that would show Iraq's reality to pan-Arab and pan-Islamic audiences.
- Revive book publishing in Iraq to fill the intellectual vacuum...and support...Iraq's hard-pressed intellectuals.
As Think Progress says, all fine goals, but let's be real here...one of the BIG ideas we first had for Iraq was ZIP CODES. Yup, you can look it up if you don't believe me. One of our first appropriations bills for the continuous emergency spending in Iraq included bringing them ZIP CODES.
Reviving book publishing is thinking bigger? No Karen, electricity 24/7 is thinking bigger. Clean water is thinking bigger. Tearing down the Green Zone is thinking bigger. Getting all of our soldiers home is thinking bigger.
Zip codes in 2003 and book publishing in 2006. I can't wait to see what 2007 is going to bring.