Elaine Chao, only Asian American in Bush Cabinet, to head final 2008 US Olympic delegation

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was supposed to head up the U.S. delegation to attend the closing ceremony of the 2008 Olympics on Sunday.

But, given her schedule to tackle the diplomatic repercussions of Russia's attack on Georgia, Rice can't make it.

So the White House announced today that Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, who was already named to the delegation, will serve as as its leader.

Which makes us wonder -- why wasn't she chosen to head the delegation in the first place?

No disrespect meant to Rice. The secretary of State is a fascinating person in her own right, growing up in segregationist Birmingham, Ala., and becoming not only provost of Stanford University but also a concert pianist to boot. All that before she entered government service, where she served first as national security advisor and now as secretary of State.

Still, it could be argued that Chao is the most interesting member of Bush's Cabinet, having arrived in America from Asia at the age of 8 speaking no English. She went on to receive an undergraduate degree in economics from Mount Holyoke College and an MBA from Harvard. Then she did chapters in government, business and think tanks.

Chao, married to the Senate's Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, is also the only member of the Cabinet who has served all eight years of the Bush presidency. And that deserves an award of some kind.

Also making the cut for the U.S. delegation to the Closing Gig: figure skating champion Michelle Kwan, U.S. Olympic Committee Chairman Peter Ueberroth, Bush confidante and former assistant secretary of State Karen Hughes, U.S. Ambassador to China Clark Randt Jr. and Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Don Kelsen / Los Angeles Times 

Comments

[M. Lee]

I find it ironic that Elaine Chao always finds ways to be either Asian or American. I've heard her speak and in front of alot of minority audiences she talks about being more white than Asian.

[Daniel Czitrom]

I challenge anyone to name a significant piece of legislation, initiative, or policy associated with Elaine Chao's eight years in office. Has there ever been a bigger non-entity as Secretary of Labor? It's instructive to compare her "record" with that of her predecessor and sister Mount Holyoke alum, Frances Perkins, a major architect of the New Deal.
Daniel Czitrom
Professor of History
Mount Holyoke College

[ann beddingfield]

I agree with Professor Czitrom. I am a Mount Holyoke alumna and love to be able to cite the achievements of other MHC graduates. But what has Elaine Chao achieved worth citing? Think back to the several mining disasters during the Bush administration. These were made the more outrageous by Bush's appointment to head the relevant mining oversight board of a person so opposed to labor/miners that the appointee had to be pushed through during recess. Elaine Chao is not "interesting"; she is distasteful.

[Janine Libbey]

It's depressing to compare her record with France Perkins's. I, too, am a Mount Holyoke alum and have never, ever told anyone I know that Chao is also a graduate. She is a disgrace.