As I suspected.
Aug. 10th, 2009 02:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
palsgraf_polkaI don't think Hillary had much say over whether or not Bill was going to North Korea, and feels as though her authority has been usurped by what Bill did.
This makes me sad.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090810/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/af_clinton_i_m_secretary/print
Clinton: I'm secretary of state, not Bill
By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer
KINSHASA, Congo – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's temper flared on Monday when a Congolese university student asked for her husband's thinking on an international matter.
"My husband is not secretary of state. I am," an obviously annoyed Clinton replied sharply.
A week after former President Bill Clinton traveled to North Korea to secure the release of two detained American journalists and stole the limelight from the start of his wife's first trip to Africa, Clinton was clearly nettled by the question at a town hall forum in Kinshasa.
"You want me to tell you what my husband thinks?" she replied incredulously when the male student asked her what "Mr. Clinton" thought of World Bank concerns about a multibillion-dollar Chinese loan offer to the Democratic Republic of Congo. . "If you want my opinion, I will tell you my opinion. I am not going to be channeling my husband," she said.
The question was left unanswered as the moderator of the event quickly moved on.
Sidelined for weeks after she was injured during a fall this spring, Clinton returned to a flurry of speculation that she had been shoved to the side as a diplomatic force inside the administration, overshadowed by globe-trotting President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and a bevy of heavyweight special envoys assigned to the world's critical hotspots.
Clinton launched into a series of high-profile speeches and television appearances. But just as she landed in Africa, her ambitious visit ran into stiff competition from her husband's secret mission to North Korea, which drew heavy coverage for his role in freeing the two journalists and talking with the regime's long-time leader, Kim Jong Il.
It was not immediately clear why Clinton reacted with such umbrage, and she quickly recovered her cool and moved on to other subjects Monday. Just before the question that set off her anger, another student had asked if the United States and the West felt a need to apologize to the people of Congo for colonialism and post-colonial interference.
"I cannot excuse the past and I will not try," she said. "We can either think about the past and be imprisoned by it or we can decide we're going to have a better future and work to make it."
Clinton is in the middle of a marathon 11-day tour of Africa and has held to a grueling schedule of official meetings and private events that have kept her busy from sunrise to well after sunset.
She returned to the public eye in mid-July with what aides billed as a major foreign policy address at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. Since then, she has traveled to India and Thailand and now to seven nations in Africa.
Hours after she left Washington for Africa last Monday, news broke that Bill Clinton had gone on the humanitarian mission to North Korea to win the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, two television journalists who had been arrested there and sentenced to 12 years at hard labor.
Mrs. Clinton arrived in Kenya to find herself peppered with questions about his role in the secret mission to North Korea.
This makes me sad.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090810/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/af_clinton_i_m_secretary/print
Clinton: I'm secretary of state, not Bill
By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer
KINSHASA, Congo – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's temper flared on Monday when a Congolese university student asked for her husband's thinking on an international matter.
"My husband is not secretary of state. I am," an obviously annoyed Clinton replied sharply.
A week after former President Bill Clinton traveled to North Korea to secure the release of two detained American journalists and stole the limelight from the start of his wife's first trip to Africa, Clinton was clearly nettled by the question at a town hall forum in Kinshasa.
"You want me to tell you what my husband thinks?" she replied incredulously when the male student asked her what "Mr. Clinton" thought of World Bank concerns about a multibillion-dollar Chinese loan offer to the Democratic Republic of Congo. . "If you want my opinion, I will tell you my opinion. I am not going to be channeling my husband," she said.
The question was left unanswered as the moderator of the event quickly moved on.
Sidelined for weeks after she was injured during a fall this spring, Clinton returned to a flurry of speculation that she had been shoved to the side as a diplomatic force inside the administration, overshadowed by globe-trotting President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and a bevy of heavyweight special envoys assigned to the world's critical hotspots.
Clinton launched into a series of high-profile speeches and television appearances. But just as she landed in Africa, her ambitious visit ran into stiff competition from her husband's secret mission to North Korea, which drew heavy coverage for his role in freeing the two journalists and talking with the regime's long-time leader, Kim Jong Il.
It was not immediately clear why Clinton reacted with such umbrage, and she quickly recovered her cool and moved on to other subjects Monday. Just before the question that set off her anger, another student had asked if the United States and the West felt a need to apologize to the people of Congo for colonialism and post-colonial interference.
"I cannot excuse the past and I will not try," she said. "We can either think about the past and be imprisoned by it or we can decide we're going to have a better future and work to make it."
Clinton is in the middle of a marathon 11-day tour of Africa and has held to a grueling schedule of official meetings and private events that have kept her busy from sunrise to well after sunset.
She returned to the public eye in mid-July with what aides billed as a major foreign policy address at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. Since then, she has traveled to India and Thailand and now to seven nations in Africa.
Hours after she left Washington for Africa last Monday, news broke that Bill Clinton had gone on the humanitarian mission to North Korea to win the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, two television journalists who had been arrested there and sentenced to 12 years at hard labor.
Mrs. Clinton arrived in Kenya to find herself peppered with questions about his role in the secret mission to North Korea.
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no subject
Date: 2009-08-10 10:12 pm (UTC)She probably snapped at this kid because it was a stupid question.
What I do think is happening, though, is that the media is taking this and twisting it into a Bill v. Hillary thing, which I think is monstrously unfair. Bill Clinton has been doing things as a private citizen for years now, and Hillary has not been overshadowed by them. Likewise, Hillary has been forging her own path, and Bill hasn't been doing it for her. I believe it's just that their paths have sort of intersected at this one moment in time, and it's Bill that's gotten the limelight.
BFD. If you notice, he's faded back into the background, like a good boy, and isn't running around tooting his own horn. The only people concerned about this are those in the media, which in turn is causing angst amongst the populace that Hillary is being pushed to the side in favor of Bill.
BTW, it's interesting to me that all during Bill's tenure as Prez, it was Billary Billary Billary, meaning many on the right saw it as a co-Presidency. Now Hillary is in the ascendancy, but it's not Hilliam Hilliam Hilliam -- no, it's "Bill's taking over, he's not Sec'y of State, OMG Hillary's being shoved out the door!!!" I'm not saying it's a co-Secretariat, but I think she'd be a fool not to consult Bill on occasion, given he was President for 8 years and has a unique view on world politics... talk about a resource...
no subject
Date: 2009-08-10 10:17 pm (UTC)I think there is more to this. I think Obama wanted Bill as Secretary of State and chose Hillary instead because A) he could be seen as doing a Lincoln-esque cabinet of opponents and B) use Bill's influence on the world through Hillary.
And I wonder if she's resenting that now.
And yes, the media is making a big deal out of this, I agree. But that doesn't mean that the underlying issues aren't there. If the media is seeing this as undermining Hillary's authority, so will the world, and therein lies the rub.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-11 02:35 am (UTC)I wonder if she took the same brisk, matter of fact tone with the kid in Kinshasa, and the media interpreted it as being "annoyed", "sharp", and "temper". After all, you know, a woman can't be strong without being a bitch... :/
I think Obama definitely considered the bonus of having Bill in his pocket if Hillary took the appointmet, but I don't think he'd bother going thru Hillary to use Bill. If he had wanted Bill Clinton as his Secy of State, he'd have appointed him. Nope, he wanted Hillary, so he appointed her. Now, was it a consolation prize, a la William Henry Seward? I think that's open for debate.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-11 09:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-11 10:22 pm (UTC)