At a concert in Kansas City in June, a singer from the popular Los Angeles-based multicultural band Ozomatli fired up the crowd the way he knew best. The band was created at a pro-labor rally in the 1990s, and one band member is fond of wearing a "Dumb and Dumber" T-shirt featuring pictures of George W. Bush and his father. If you've been to any of the large antiwar rallies across the country over the past several years, chances are good that you've seen Ozomatli perform.

"Let's give a message to George W. Bush!" shouted Jabu Smith-Freeman, extending his middle finger. The crowd responded, according to one witness, with a "sea of middle fingers" and "deafening cheers."

Two months later, Ozomatli was touring the Middle East, its members "cultural ambassadors" from the State Department on a trip financed by U.S. taxpayers. CNN diplomatic correspondent Zain Verjee reported that the members of the band are "no fans of the U.S." and, as such, make "unlikely diplomats" on a mission to improve the image of America overseas.

Maybe. Or maybe they're a lot like the many real diplomats who, charged with promoting a U.S. foreign policy they disagree with, instead choose to undermine it. When reporters in India asked the band about their political views, the musicians did not hold back. The State Department did nothing to discourage them. "There were funny guidelines that were a joke," said band member Raul Pacheco. "You can do anything you want, but just don't burn Bush in effigy."

Pacheco continued: "We're walking around the pyramids, and this guy just came up to me and said, 'Where are you from?'"

"I'm from Los Angeles," the musician responded.

"I love Americans! But I can't stand your government!"

"And you know what? All of a sudden it opened up a dialogue!"

Karen Hughes boasted about this diplomatic breakthrough in an online chat just days before she resigned as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs last week.

"We believe music is a universal language, so we send everything from jazz to country western musicians to perform around the world--recently a group called Ozomatli, which describes its music as Latino-Asian fusion funk, performed in Cairo, Amman and Tunis, drew huge crowds, and delivered a message that our differences can enrich rather than divide us."

There you have it. Ozomatli. Uniters, not dividers. You hate our government? We do, too!

All of which might prompt someone--say, the president--to ask: Just why are we spending our money this way? And what is public diplomacy, anyway?

As luck would have it, Hughes got this as the first question in her chat. "This is a great question to get us started! 'Public diplomacy' is an umbrella term for the many ways that our government reaches out to engage and inform people around the world about our country, our values and our policies. I like to say that the initials--PD--remind us that public diplomacy is people-driven."

She later added: "I call this work 'waging peace' because I believe public diplomacy builds the mutual respect and understanding that is so urgently needed in today's diverse and global world." No better way to engage and inform people around the world about our policies, apparently, than to dispatch emissaries who will trash those policies rather than explain them. And no better way to gain the respect of those who criticize the United States than to show them that they are not alone.

Hughes came to the State Department in 2005. Her job would include oversight of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the entity that coordinates all government-financed overseas broadcasting. Her particular emphasis would be the greater Middle East.

A former television reporter, she had gotten to know George W. Bush in Texas and became one of his closest advisers. Despite her lack of experience in public diplomacy, Hughes agreed to take the job because she believed her communications skills could help repair America's image around the world. In short order, the global war of ideas would become a public relations fight, a battle of messages. "As a communicator I understand that the way that you really communicate with people is that you have to speak in ways that are relevant to their lives," she would say.