In her remarks on Friday to an audience of more than 3,000 students, faculty, alumni and townspeople, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gave an eloquent and resounding defense of the Bush administration's policy in the Middle East. Though we do not always agree with Rice's views, we were proud to welcome her to campus. Rice is a prime example of the kind of person Princeton should strive to shape: the consummate scholar who does not shy away from practical issues. We hope the University will continue to pursue speakers who combine deep scholarly knowledge with real world experience. The opportunity to learn from such distinguished public servants is what makes a Princeton education distinctive.
Though Rice failed to add anything new to the foreign policy debate — as was anticipated — her speech was impressive in its ability to put current policy into historical context. Her address was a particularly appropriate introduction to the Wilson School's 75th anniversary, with its invocation of the United States' moral and strategic obligation to spread human rights and democracy throughout the world.
Yet Rice's speech was as notable for what it didn't say as for what it did. While her address was peppered with the Wilsonian rhetoric of democratization, she failed to mention that democratization was not the original reason for invading Iraq. Indeed, based on Rice's speech, it seems that the administration has stop trying to justify this war on the basis of Iraq's possession of WMD. From a scholar of Rice's stature, a more forthright treatment of the reasons for entering and continuing this war would have been refreshing.
Rice also failed to address some of the starkest threats to human rights and democracy in the world today, from the genocide in Darfur to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. These omissions are, sadly, unsurprising from an administration that has continued the United States' shameful legacy of inaction against genocide and has largely bypassed international cooperation when implementing its AIDS programs.
While Rice could not be expected to address every foreign policy issue in her speech, these omissions are representative of an administration that has employed the broad rhetoric of democratization and human rights to pursue an increasingly narrow and unilateral foreign policy. Of that, we are not proud.
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