What David Said

I jsut lately discovered David Rothkopf, and I tell you, this guy is good:

In case you missed the point, having so many special envoys and czars is a formula for policy-making gridlock, clashes of egos and lack of discipline in the policy development and implementation process. It is interesting that we already have perhaps six or seven very senior people who are going to be devoted to shaping greater Middle East/South Asia policy -- envoys are being discussed for India-Pakistan, Iran, Israel-Palestine, plus an assistant secretary, plus someone at the NSC, plus a counterterrorism czar, plus the National Security Advisor, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Deputy Secretary of State, an Under Secretary for Political Affairs at State who is a Mideast specialist...and China is almost certainly our most important international relationship and not a czar or bevy of appointments in sight. And can you imagine the graceful handoffs between and among these czars as their issues overlap? Go see a demolition derby and imagine the names of your favorite foreign policy types painted on each of the cars....it'll tell you the whole story.

H/T to Chris Blattman, and as Chris says, I wish I had such cracks in my ceiling.