She filled a job that for decades had been held by a series of middle-aged career Africanists. Longtime bureaucrats griped that she was too green, that she was a political hire. And she doesn't tolerate dissenters. Some of the African press suggested that Rice would have little influence with traditional African male leaders. On the other hand, he's utterly ignoring a cultural reality.
Rice dismisses that concern.
They have no choice but to deal with me on professional terms. Yeah, they may do a double take, but then they have to listen to what you say, how you say it and what you do about what you say. Critics reserve their harshest fire for what they view as the administration's feckless policy in the region. But there was little follow-up from Washington, and all that seemed to resurge was war. It sounds wonderful, but it doesn't exist.