The White House thanked Karen Hughes for her 12 years of government service and her work with the U.S. State Department, on Wednesday when Hughes announced her resignation. The White House's reactions came after the announcement made Wednesday morning by Hughes and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that she will leave her post as undersecretary of state to return to Texas to be with her family. Hughes is a “close friend of the President [George W. Bush]” and told him over the summer that she is intending to resign before the end of his term, White House spokesperson Dana Perino said. Hughes worked to open communication between the Muslim world and the United States by encouraging programs such as exchange students coming from the Middle East to study at American schools, Perino said. It is important for the United States to “win the hearts and minds” of people around the world, which Perino believes Hughes has worked to do during her time at the State Department, she said. Perino declined to comment on poll figures that say that despite Hughes' efforts in the Middle East, some countries in the region are not favorable of the United States, with Turkey at 9 percent and Palestine at 13 percent.
