Condi Rice Kicks Butt at State

The New York Post has a story on Condi's proposed house-cleaning for the State Department. Registration required, so you might just want to read Vodka Pundit, who posts some of the bullet points. Here's an exerpt from Stephen Green's exerpt:

"* Crucially, Condi named China, India, South Africa and Brazil as countries of the future while declaring that an initial 100 diplomatic slots would migrate from Europe immediately to countries that actually matter. More reassignments will follow, with even Moscow demoted to the international enlisted ranks — while Indonesia gets promoted (Double ouch!)."

It's nice to see some real initiative here, and one more reason (other than black leather boots, JeffH) to wish Condi would run for Pres. Check that -- we ought to see whether she has the talent to put good ideas into practice, first. But she's showing some initiative.

My immediate concerns with this story are three-fold. First, Stephen asks the right question: "The question is: 'Can she go far enough in the next three years, that her immediate successor can't immediately undo all her changes?'" So we've got the problem of the successor. The second problem is inertia even during her three years. Moving bureaucracy is a bit like moving Michael Moore out of the ice cream line at the Old Country Buffet -- technically possible, but it usually requires controlled explosions. Third, I wonder if Condi-mania could possibly sweep into other government departments. I'd be interested to hear Dave's thoughts on whether DoD can be cleaned up, and if so, how he would go about it.

Update: I guess Condi isn't the only government-type that JeffH spends his time ogling...

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind whatsoever that you should click that link. The future of the Republic may depend on it.