The American Spectator

p> CONSERVATIVE PERFORMANCE br> Re: W. James Antle III’s Rewarding Labor : /p>

Some short observations on this article, which you may or may not agree with.

The profile of the Labor Dept. under Elaine Chao was very interesting and informative, but also encouraging in a larger sense. Many observers have been highly critical of Donald Rumsfeld. Colin Powell was to some extent a disappointment, and Condoleezza Rice has been criticized for naivete or “going native” at the State Department with regard to the “Middle East Peace Process,” “consultation” with North Korea and Iran, and other matters. The issue might more accurately be stated: has anybody better been available for their slots, from 2001 until now?

The personal opinion of one of your readers (of no particular wisdom or distinction) is that in historical terms, the team of Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, Rice, Ashcroft, and (as it turns out) Chao has been as good as any assembled by any President since Lincoln. Moreover, it’s hard to think of anyone else in public life who could have equaled the work of any of these people under the conditions in which we now live. But who can the next president draw on, of equal experience or stature or gravitas? Rice is still young, and might yet have some “star quality” at the beginning of 2009. The rest are history.

p>Mr. Antle referred to the Weekly Standard reference to Chao, and about a year ago the National Review had a full-page article on her. The Republican “bench” of statesmen