"Nanny" diplomacy

(Seth Browarnik/startraksphoto.com)

In a flamboyant move by the Bush administration, Fran Drescher has been appointed as a U.S. public diplomacy envoy. Drescher is best known as the star of the sitcom “The Nanny,” where her loud, glitzy ways earned her many admirers but forced others to turn off their TV sets, claiming damaged ear drums.

It will take more than even the most capable nanny to clean up our foreign policy messes. Still, I have always been a fan of cultural exchanges, and I am convinced that the world would be a better place if more Americans spent some time abroad.

Drescher is a rape and cancer survivor. She founded the organization Cancer Schmancer and will spend her time as envoy focusing on women’s health issues, including early cancer detection. She is the first non-athlete to take up the post and as Agence France-Presse reports:

Her appointment is all the more interesting as President George W. Bush's administration has fought to reverse the landmark 1973 Roe vs. Wade law establishing a woman's legal right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.

Asked her views on abortion, Drescher said: "I think that government is out of place to legislate a woman's body.

"But I do think that the world has to become a more female-friendly place so that a woman can make the choice for pro-life on her own because she knows that she and her unborn will be well taken care of," Drescher said.

According ABC News, Drescher was originally offered the job by Karen Hughes, then undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, who once infamously lumped pro-choice advocates with terrorists.

Well, what can I say? Kudos to the Bush administration for appointing someone who disagrees with the president!

Good luck to Drescher on her world tour spreading women’s empowerment, love of apple pie land and a mean New York accent!