The (Ex) Washington Realist

Last week, I contributed to NI online's foreign policy advisor index a piece, "From Your Blog to God's Ear," a commentary on how bloggers have begun to dissect the foreign policy records of the key campaign advisors and how, over time, this discussion finds its way into the mainstream print media.

I noted that, by the time Frank Rich wrote about this in his New York Times column on December 23, he had created the impression that voters are not only selecting candidates--but should also take into account who their advisors are in making their choice.

A TWR reader sent me a private note, with a complaint--why so much attention being paid to a Foreign Affairs article that Lee Feinstein wrote, and less attention to Susan Rice's actual record while in the Clinton administration? "I've just finished reading Howard French's A Continent for the Taking and don't find her role in shaping U.S. policy toward Africa, starting with the non-action during the Rwanda genocide, to be all that enlightening. Don't Iowa voters need to know that too?" [That last point is in reference to my observation that Rich's column about foreign policy advisors was now circulating on blogs in Iowa]

It's a good point, but more importantly it continues to prove what I have been saying--that it is unprecedented that at this point in the election cycle--the primary season--that so much attention is being paid to advisors.