Although I have not been a fan of yours, I offer my sincere congratulations on your nomination to be U.S. secretary of state. What an honor to ascend to one of the most prestigious posts in the world’s most powerful government – fourth in line to the presidency! – and to present “America’s face to the world,” as President George W. Bush put it, as that of a black woman.

Of course, you can expect some tough questioning – especially about your role in thwarting terrorism as the president's national security adviser – a role which, among others, former White House terrorism czar Richard Clarke says you essentially blew.  Unless someone slips some sodium pentothal into the White House Kool-Aid, we’ll never know will we?

But, back to the future.

As you no doubt realize, yours is an amazing opportunity. Not only can you help repair the damage done to our national image by your boss’s intransigence, arrogance and smugness ensconced in his policy of pre-emption and unilateralism, but you can help repair the rift between the administration and 50 million Americans who voted against him.

Having spent the last four years or so cozying up to Bush and carrying his water, you’ve won his confidence and favor. Colin Powell never had that advantage.  He had the public’s trust, but never made it to bosom buddy status with the president. Consequently, when Powell differed with the company line, he was banished to the sidelines and, then, to the outskirts of the policy circle. The nation’s first black secretary of state ultimately became more of a ceremonial figure than a powerhouse. In the end, he was reduced, essentially, to ribbon-cutting around the world.

You, on the other hand, can use the political capital you’ve collected over the years to move Bush toward a wiser course. Put that able mind to work for truth and reality, not in service to some pompous ideology based on ethnocentrism, supremacy, hegemony, daddyism – “we know what’s good for you” – or bullyism – “my way or the highway.”

I need not remind you that these are delicate times. If the administration did not recognize it before 9-11, it knows it now. Some of that delicacy is Bush’s own doing. He has eroded global trust and goodwill and left them threadbare. A little more weight, a little more pressure, and the thing is bound to collapse. Then what?

Alas, more than our reputation is at stake here. Our very survival, our very existence – in the least, our security – are riding on whether the United States can stop making enemies and prove itself worthy of the role as the planet’s sole superpower. That means recognizing what drives insurgents, even terrorists, painful as that might be, and ending unjust policies that only aggravate them. That’s not negotiating with terrorists; that’s recognizing U.S. fallibility. It takes a mighty big man – and a mighty big nation – to acknowledge its own wrongs. It sure would go a long way toward rebuilding the moral high ground, however.

Too, you’ll have to do something about Sudan and the Ivory Coast. Atrocity has taken up residence there and is hunkering down. As a black woman, you have an obligation to the peoples of the motherland. I hope you feel that tug, and will make something happen as only you can.

Now, I must admit, that I will be astonished if you step up on these matters because, frankly, your record of speaking truth to power is not very good. Certainly, it would come as a surprise to your patron to find that his favorite girl is no longer a yes-woman, willing to go along with ill-timed, ill-informed and perhaps even treacherous plans. But, seize the day. Show ol’ Dick Cheney what’s what.

If you don’t exploit this unique opportunity to do the right thing, you will tempt the same fate as Clarence Thomas whom, despite his pronouncements and his record, enjoyed the benefit of the doubt. Some folks actually thought that, once liberated by virtue of a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court, Thomas might man up and fight for right. It turned out to be wasted faith.

Please, ma’am; don’t make Thomas’ mistake. You’ll soon be working for all of us. Now is the time for all good women to represent.