Lexington

摘要

The Bush administration's favourite charge against John Kerry is that he is a flip-flopper. But few Kerry flip-flops can compare with the recent performance by Mr Bush's national security adviser. For more than a week Condoleezza Rice adamantly refused to testify in public before the September nth commission. But then suddenly, on March 30th, she gave in to a storm of protest and announced that she would testify after all. Ms Rice's refusal to appear before the commission in public was not just knuckle-headed; it was a public-relations disaster. It allowed Richard Clarke, Mr Bush's former terrorism expert who has turned on his erstwhile masters, to seize the moral high ground; instead of Mr Clarke being pummelled for disloyalty, as the White House had hoped, the media coverage has focused on Ms Rice's obstinacy. Her refusal to talk also infuriated many families who had lost loved ones on September 11th. And it gave the impression to everybody except the most diehard Republicans that the administration has something to hide.