On speaking terms

IN CRITICIZING Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) for a high-profile visit to Syria, President Bush may well have hoped to score political points against the speaker of the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives. Instead, he only succeeded in showing his own lack of imagination when it comes to Middle East foreign policy.

Bush said at a news conference Tuesday that “photo opportunities and/or meetings with President Assad lead the Assad government to believe they’re part of the mainstream of the international community when, in fact, they’re a state sponsor of terror.” Although a Pelosi-Assad meeting runs the risk of ratcheting up the regime’s respectability, meetings between members of Congress and heads of state -- even unfriendly states -- are not out of the ordinary. A more savvy administration would use them to its advantage.

Just last December, Sens. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) visited Assad without getting called out by the president at a news conference. Then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich traveled to Bosnia amid widespread Republican opposition to Clinton administration policy there. Three Republican House members met with Assad on Sunday.

Of course, Pelosi isn’t just any member of Congress. She is the first among unequals, and her encounter with Assad could have the trappings of a summit meeting. She should be careful not to convey that impression or to allow Assad to. And she should be clear that conducting foreign policy is the province of the executive branch.

Pelosi herself is not above playing politics. When criticism of her trip surfaced, her spokesman said: “As recommended by the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan delegation led by Speaker Pelosi intends to discuss a wide range of security issues ... with representatives of governments in the region, including Syria.” The Iraq Study Group did favor engagement with Syria (as does this page), but it did not appoint the speaker to lead the charge. Ideally, leadership would come from a more official channel.

But Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have repeatedly said that they will not talk to Syria. So it’s hard to share their indignation when members of Congress enter the fray; it’s what politicians do. Despite the president’s criticism of the speaker, the Bush administration seems to understand this. Before Pelosi left for Syria, she received a briefing from the State Department.