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Critics of Strauss cite his lack of expert knowledge, inability to speak more than a few words of Russian and his tendency to focus on commercial activism rather than traditional diplomatic analysis. Some embassy staffers are also unimpressed with what one calls his "frequent-flyer ambassadorship" -- a reference to the fact that about once every two or three months, Strauss finds a reason to return home. This month he picked up a "Texan of the Year" award in Dallas. In early May he will attend the Kentucky Derby, and during the late summer, while air conditioning is being added to Spaso House, he and Helen will make their usual pilgrimage to Del Mar, Calif., for the annual Thoroughbred meeting there.
The ambassador's defense of these trips is that he always combines them with speeches and other public appearances aimed at selling his view of U.S. policy in Russia. During his most recent two-week trip home, for instance, he testified before the Senate and House foreign affairs committees; delivered several speeches, including one to the Council on Foreign Relations in London; and met with, among others, President Bush and Russia's new ambassador to the U.S., Vladimir Lukin. Says Strauss: "It would be a much better use of me if I spent even more of my time in the States, talking to people about what needs to be done here. When the President appointed me, he said, 'Bob, at least half of your job is in Washington and in the States as I see it. And you come and go as you see fit.' "
Not that life in Russia is physically so terrible for the Strausses. Spaso House, despite a roach problem, is a grand mansion, painted bright yellow and designed in the New Empire style. Apart from some interior redecoration ordered by Strauss and paid for by the State Department (on a recommendation, Strauss rather defensively notes, from Barbara Bush), the biggest changes they have wrought involve artwork. Gone are the abstract paintings and sculptures favored by Strauss's predecessor, Jack Matlock. Absolute realism now reigns at Spaso, including a number of landscapes from Strauss's native Southwest and many photographs. Prominent among the latter, of course, is one of the Strausses and the Bushes, taken in the White House at Christmastime. But Strauss wouldn't be Strauss unless surrounded by Democrats, so there are also pictures and mementos of F.D.R., Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, W. Averell Harriman -- even Henry Wallace. "I've given a lot of thought to whether or not, as ambassador, I ought to go to the Democratic Convention this year," Strauss says. "I've decided I ought to go."