What if a co-worker told you both of the following things:  A) She was leaving the company to take a new job; and B) She was not leaving the company to take a new job.

You would probably assume that she was playing a joke on you or that she was struggling with an illness that affected her memory.  Or maybe that you caught her in a lie.

But these sorts of contradictory statements are now the norm in American politics.

See the following:

Yesterday, Condoleezza Rice stated the following in Iraq:  “I don’t know who the prime minister is going to be, and it’s not our role to try and determine who the prime minister is going to be.” 

Then again, it seems like we are trying to determine who the prime minister should be: 

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on an unannounced visit to the Iraqi capital amid a months-long political crisis, publicly questioned the leadership of interim Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari, the strongest indication yet that the United States wants him out of contention as head of Iraq’s permanent government. 

Such American interference in Iraqi politics is also corroborated by this recent statement by the Iraqi prime minister:

Facing growing pressure from the Bush administration to step down, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari of Iraq vigorously asserted his right to stay in office on Wednesday and warned the Americans against interfering in the country’s political process. 

Perhaps there’s no lesson here, only frustration that our …