U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill) waits to ask U.S. Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice a question during her testimony before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, during her confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 18, 2005. Rice promised the Senators enormous personal effort to exploit a moment of opportunity in Middle East peace, a sign Washington would resume active high-level diplomacy there. REUTERS/Larry Downing LSD