That’s my impression of Nancy Pelosi and her trip to the Middle East, in open opposition to the White House’s policies in the region. More of political stunt than anything, she’s waded headfirst into the tumultuous waters of mideast politics, and something tells me she forgot her life raft.
She started in Syria, where she carried made-up messages from Israel. Now she’s in Saudi Arabia, where she’s apparently upset that there aren’t enough women in politics (as opposed to, say, driving cars, walking on the streets, in the classrooms, in the business world…). She also praised King Abdullah for the Saudi “peace initiative” – in other words, the Arab world’s way of scoring some world press brownie points while attempting to “negotiate” with Israel at gunpoint. (Tellingly, Olmert’s counter-suggestion for a Mideast Peace Summit was met with the typical rejections and excuses – because, of course, nobody in the Arab world really wants to talk peace, they just want to be able to say they do).
Dialogue can be a good thing, but I have to question Pelosi’s intentions with this trip, designed seemingly solely to be able to thumb her nose at Bush. Pelosi is coming across as naive, vindictive, and one of those people who does something just to be able to say “So there!. When the biggest cheerleader for her trip is Jimmy Carter, that’s not saying very much.
I’m not suggesting I agree with how the Bush government has dealt with mideast politics. But the Democrats have a real chance to take back the White House next year and set the foreign policy agenda. Pelosi’s ill-advised foray into an area of politics she obviously knows little about might be very costly for that bid.