1月18日,被美国总统布什提名出任国务卿的总统国家安全事务助理赖斯在美国参议院外委会参加任职听证会。由于她在听证会上对民主党议员的强硬态度使提名的批准被推迟。直到28日才公开宣誓就任国务卿。而相互呼应的布什就职演说与赖斯的听证陈述被视为当今“美国外交政策的最主要、也最发人深省的阐述。” On January 18th, the National Security Assistant to the President, Rice, who was nominated by President Bush as Secretary of State, Rice attended the inaugural hearing in the US Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. Due to her hard-line attitude towards the Democratic legislator at the hearing, the approval of the nomination was postponed. It was only on the 28th that it was publicly sworn in as Secretary of State. Bush’s inaugural speech and Rice’s hearing statement echoed each other are seen as “the most important and most instructive exposition of US foreign policy today.”