Condi Rice has been slagging the UN. This obvious manouver by the US is both needed and dangerous. I suspect most people think the UN needs to reform (not least Kofi Annan), but the US says the UN needs "US leadership" to achieve that.
Whilst the UN (especially the Security Council) is largely ineffective, allowing the US to do anything would be wholely dangerous. It is, after all, the United Nations, not a branch of the US administration.
The US says the UN should concentrate on Human Rights and International Terror. Hmm... do the US's dirty work for it, perhaps? Of course, the UN won't be allowed to look into the US for those things, so the UN will actually be as ineffective as it is now.