James Baker "Hard Work, Study and Stay Out of Politics"

I went to hear former Sec. James Baker speak at the World Affairs lunch today. There must have been over a 1,000 people in the ballroom at the Hyatt downtown.

To my amazement, I went down, before the crowd arrived, to see where my table “6” was located. A young woman was putting name cards on it. When I saw “James Baker” on one of the cards I realized I’d been put at the speakers table –either it was an honor or a mistake. I decided to check. Apparently someone at the table had invited someone else at the last minute so they gave me another seat at table 9 (the flip of 6).

His new book is entitled after a saying of his father: “Hard Work, Study and Stay Out of Politics.” He gave an interesting talk. He talked of the pain of losing his first wife to cancer at 38 and how Bush 41 got him into politics right after that. Despite losing that first election still led to serving four Presidents.

He didn’t want to discuss Iraq since it had potential to be an election issue and his report "remains unwritten despite what you hear" and won’t be coming out until after the election. At the Q&A, people were sparse at the microphones at first, despite the huge room (or because of it) so I went up and said:

“Mr. Secretary, my name is Michael Fjetland. I have to say that I wish I’d read your book BEFORE deciding to run for Congress.” That got a laugh, even from the Secretary of State. Then I asked something about Iran and North Korea and sat down. People started lining up at the mike after that. Mission accomplished.

I found out from someone who read Mr. Woodward’s book (State of Denial) that Woodward thought Mr. Baker should take Rumsfeld’s job. That was the first I’d hear of it -- funny to think we both thought of the same thing independently. I suspect a LOT of other people have had the same thought lately as the news from Iraq gets more discouraging.

It was great to hear someone who really knows how to make the U.S. look good and manage global issues with the skills of a lawyer, negotiator and diplomat all rolled into one...