Clinton Needs A New Spin Master

Portraying Clinton’s African safari as a “success” will forever reign as the most unbelievable spin job in history.  It would have been far better to say nothing than to bring more publicity to what was a disastrous trip.  Besides being sent on a meaningless journey to countries that most Americans never heard of, Clinton had to put up with insulting questions from her hosts as well as being publicly upstaged by her own husband.

Here’s the official spin job - believe it or not!

Clinton’s Africa Trip Is Viewed as a Success

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton apparently accomplished what she set out to do on her trip to Africa. She pressed governments from Kenya to Nigeria to Libera for reform.

She highlighted the plight of women in Congo, meeting with rape victims and hearing their stories.

But the trip did not go entirely as planned.

Media headlines instead focused on Clinton’s more controversial remarks on tangential issues, and America’s top diplomat found herself commenting more on someone who was not even there: her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

As Secretary Clinton embarked on the 11-day, seven-country swing through the continent, President Clinton departed for North Korea on what was described by officials as a “humanitarian” mission to retrieve two American journalists being held there.

President Clinton’s successful trip was a media coup, one that overshadowed his wife’s arrival in Africa. In interviews and press conferences soon after her arrival, reporters peppered her for information about her husband’s trip as the rescue dominated headlines around the world.

The comments, and video, ricocheted around the world, prompting commentators and analysts to wonder if the secretary was withering under her husband’s shadow. She had just spent the past month fighting rumors of her marginalization in the Obama administration while nursing a broken elbow.

At a town hall event in Abuja, Nigeria, she compared the 2000 U.S. election Florida recount to the allegedly rigged election in Nigeria.

The comparison drew sharp criticism from conservatives in Washington, who balked at the notion that Clinton would compare a United States election to one in Nigeria marred with missing ballot boxes, inflated voter counts, and shooting of voters at polling stations. Again, the headlines were concerned less with governance in Nigeria and more with whether Clinton made yet another misstep.

Perhaps if Hillary had simply brought Bill Clinton along with her, the trip might have been a real “success”.

The Truth Hurts

Some devastating criticism of Hillary by Nile Gardiner at the Telegraph UK.

If President Obama’s goal in appointing Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State was to neutralize his biggest rival, he has certainly succeeded. Clinton looks a shadow of her former self, and has been the most low-key Secretary of State in recent times. Her immediate predecessors Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell were far more prominent figures on the world stage during their first six months in office. Clinton, in contrast, looks tired, disinterested, and largely going through the motions.

Her flagship speech last week at the Council on Foreign Relations was not only exceedingly dull, but devoid of any clear foreign policy strategy that actually advances the US national interest.

There is little doubt that Hillary Clinton’s star has significantly waned since January. Hugely overshadowed by a White House that dominates US foreign policy, the former first lady rarely makes headlines on policy questions. She has gone from fiery senator and presidential contender to increasingly marginalized run of the mill bureaucrat.

Clinton’s own standing has being damaged by both a clear lack of leadership and independent thought, as well as a humiliating association with a weak-kneed foreign policy that is undermining American global power, undercutting alliances with traditional allies (including Britain and Israel), gutting defence spending, and extending the hand of friendship to some of the most odious regimes in the world. That’s quite a fall for a hugely ambitious political figure who all her life has aspired to greatness.

What Nile does not take into account is that at least Hillary is obeying the first law of common sense - “do no harm”.  The world does not need to have a bombastic Secretary of State running around, trying to micro manage and direct other countries.   Silence or behind the scenes diplomacy is oft times the better option.   A subdued, tired “marginalized run of the mill bureaucrat” as Secretary of State may be the best option at this point - perhaps Hillary is smarter than Nile gives her credit for.