As a passionate blogger, I always like to see more folks joining the craft.  Even the U.S. Government.  So it’s a good thing, for instance, that there’s an official State Department blog, called Dipnote.

Sure, it’s not the most bloggy thing we’ve ever seen.  It’s more typical of a PR organ than an interactive conversation.  But heck, baby steps, right?

Sometimes, though, the steps can be in the wrong direction.

Like when the blog is used to determine what U.S. policy should be in, say, the Middle East.

Consider this recent Dipnote posting:

Question of the Week: Should the U.S. Engage Hamas in the Peace Process Between the Israelis and Palestinians? 

Talk about interactive.   The comment section literally exploded, to use a Middle East term of art.

It’s probably not an unhelpful thing to ask that question — but more as an intellectual exercise in a place other than an official State Department outlet.  After all, shouldn’t they be the ones with the answer?

No wonder this exchange occurred at a later State Department press briefing with spokesman Sean McCormack:

QUESTION: Sean, on Dipnote, the question of the week is actually: Should the U.S. engage Hamas in the peace process between the Israelis and the Palestinians? Can you explain why this is up for discussion within the State Department since you very firmly have said that Hamas is considered a terrorist organization and you won’t (inaudible).

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, it’s not — again, it’s not a question of policy. This is our official blog. It’s not — it’s meant to generate conversation among people.

QUESTION: Are you taking notes of what people within the Department are saying? Taking note of what people are saying within the Department on this?

MR. MCCORMACK: We always take a look. I personally always look at the blog. I’m the one who started it. So, you know, we always take a look at what the comments are. But it doesn’t — that doesn’t mean that it’s going to change the policy. The policy is what it is.

QUESTION: What’s the purpose then, Sean, to have that? What’s the — there must be a reason for this question to be up there versus another question. So what are you taking out of the whole thing?

MR. MCCORMACK: I didn’t write this particular question, but again, it’s meant to generate — I mean, you guys here are asking me in a public forum these kinds of questions. This is just another form of a public forum.

QUESTION: So is it meant to just sort of solidify and confirm your policy that you should not talk to Hamas? Are you expecting the parties to –

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, it’s a –

QUESTION: — I haven’t looked at it recently.

MR. MCCORMACK: No, the whole idea behind the blog is to try to build a community of people who are interested in reading about and discussing and providing their inputs to — on matters of foreign policy. It’s an attempt to let — and this question isn’t indicative of it — but it’s an attempt to let people on the outside who may not have any interaction with the State Department, who don’t have the opportunity to travel with the Secretary of State, to get a little bit of an insight to what we do at the State Department and why we do it.

We’re also interested in hearing the views of people outside, both positive and negative. There’s — if you look at the blog, there’s criticism of the State Department, there’s criticism of U.S. policy there. There’s also statements of support. There are people who are asking questions. It’s, to my mind, a critical way in the 21st century of interacting with publics and communicating with publics and hearing what they have to say, not just broadcasting out but also hearing what they have to say.

I mean, we put — I mean, to your question, Nina, we’ve put all sorts of questions up there previously talking about Cuba policy and all sorts of other things. It’s not a statement of policy; it’s just something that the questions tend to be very topical and to generate discussion. There are a lot of people with a lot of different views, a lot of people that don’t share our views with regard to terrorist organizations.

No, the State Department shouldn’t stop blogging, in whatever form they think blogging is.  I doubt any other country has such a vibrant open forum.  But let’s equally hope they don’t blog away a strong U.S. position against terrorists, or anything else.