Tina Brown, the tired and flamed-out gossip columnist, New Yorker editor who was once thrown out of 3 English boarding schools, branched out last week into foreign territory. Publisher of The Daily Beast, a website that combines soft journalism and celebrity gossip, Brown flanked the mainstream and spotlighted the "brilliant checkmate" between President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a post headlined, "Obama's Other Wife."
According to Brown, Hillary is losing street cred because she's left out of the spotlight of Barack's photo ops. Barack was in Russia at the dacha; Hillary was in DC meeting with the military deposed Honduran president. Brown cites several other details, including in-house fights between Joe Biden and Barack, and Hillary's absence during the Middle East trip to demonstrate that Hillary is on a "tight lease." Several commenting across the net also see Hillary's role as an example of "suppression."
I see crimson--at the abysmal misrepresentation of Hillary and Barack respective roles and the impugned motives and reasons behind a variety of Tina Brown-invented-and-interpreted "moves"--
NONE of which focus on the enormity of American foreign policy, the White House strategy of moving on several fronts at once, or using the basic journalist practice of offering real examples to support a flimsy but titillating conclusion that actually got air time for Brown on CNN.
Brown's conclusion is not only wrong, it's out of place. It's gossip; masquerading as news. It makes American foreign policy an extension of a personal feud. It turns a dangerous world into an overlay of campaign politics.
If Hillary should take off the "burka," Brown should put on a muzzle. But websites are filled with all type of foreign policy scenarios, leading to US-led wars, foreign attacks, shifting economic interests, and other, inevitable dark results. Brown's prior fame fed her notice, not her insight. Her flights of fancy are really not linked to State Department policy.
Its certainly okay to assess American foreign policy efforts, but play by the rules of the game, and know when you are off-limits and out of bounds. Whenever, Hillary or Barack is smarter, more experienced, or wary is really not the point. The point is the principles for relationships being put into place, the changing relationships between America and the world, the work and missions carefully structured and carefully reached.
A fairly constant criticism is that Barack has not yet been able to bring change to America's international relations. Those of offer this criticism assume policy change happens instantly. They think: you meet, you go through. So far, those with this view see no change.
They miss the obvious. For one, during the Russian summit, Russia announced that American military transports, ferrying matriel, armaments, and troops, could land on their soil and use Russian military bases as transport sites for shipments to Afghanistan. Russia also announced mutual agreement to further reduce the arsenal of nuclear warheads.
American support for the exiled Honduran president won major kudos form our American neighbors, who remember all too well when an American President supported a coupe to overthrow an elected Latin American president. More and more, Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez's positions have been neutralized and his standing has dropped among the countries of the hemisphere.
And Barack's multi-front approach has not exiled Hillary into an policy gulag, but instead, has put her front and center in world capitals-easily verified by her travel list since February:
A 7 day Asian trip in February.
A week long trip to Europe and the Middle East in March.
A 3 day visit to Mexico, March.
A day trip to the Hague for a conference (March).
From April to July, Hillary's trips included:
A 3 day Caribbean tour to Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago in April.
3 days in the Middle East.
3 Days in Central America.
2 days in Cairo.
A day trip to Canada.
A week in India and Thailand.
Hillary's very painful broken arm led to her canceling June travel to Greece and Turkey.
(See the interactive map of Hillary's travels at State's site:
http://www.state.gov/secretary/trvl/map/?trip_id=13 secretaries . All of Hillary's travel and Washinton meetings have been high level talks with foreign secretaries and foreign ministers. The State Department website provides summaries and communiques.)" mce_href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/trvl/map/?trip_id=13secretaries"> All of Hillary's travel and Washinton meetings have been high level talks with foreign secretaries and foreign ministers. The State Department website provides summaries and communiques.)
And for Hillary initiatives here at home, and a board look at and revealing insights about the State Department in general, review the transcript of a recent town hall meeting of State's employees, led by Hillary (
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/july/125949.htm ).
Tina Brown's theme of the politically scorned woman analogy has no business in the news mainstream. Fun, as entertainment and political fantasy, it actually does a disservice to Hillary, the strongest of the 3 Madame Secretaries, by portraying a smart, capable woman of depth and substance as being the sum of a few minor squabbles.
All photos from the Official White House Photostream, at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse .
Used under the creative commons.
In order: Hillary and Barack meeting at the White House, 1/09
Hillary, Barack, Valerie Jarrett, and David Axelrod in Cairo, 6/09
Hillary and Barack in the Oval Office, 4/09
Hillary attending the NATO meeting (2);
Hillary's hotel for her current India meeting, 7/09
Hillary and Barack meeting on the White House lawn, 4/09.
Thanks for reading! Did you find food for thought?
Walter Rhett writes Southern Perlo from Kudu Coffee, 4 Vanderhorst St. in downtown Charleston, SC. Perlo is a rice dish with local bounty, widely enjoyed. Southern Perlo's blog of stories/insights/and open views appears on news sites in local communities. Help stir the perlo,leave a comment.
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