Hell Hath No Fury Like Hillary Clinton

Yesterday, I cheered when I read the transcript of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's response when a student asked about Bill Clinton's thoughts on foreign policy. Her words crisply asserted that she was the Secretary of State and that she would not be "channeling" her husband's thoughts on any foreign policy issues. Her tone was everything I want in a chief foreign affairs adviser -- clear, no-nonsense and direct. However, reading Sec. Clinton's exchange and seeing it have become two different stories.

When I saw Secretary Clinton sitting slightly slouched, looking like she was ready to jump out of her chair and into the face of the student-audience member, I could see the double standard coming. Many of the news reports were quick to conclude that she was just raving mad. "She lost her cool!" "She just lost it." The news sound bites are already buzzing about Sec. Clinton's infamous temper and have hurled the sobriquet "Hitlerly" at her. This will probably be the news story that will get more coverage than all of the good work she has done on her international tour.

Many of the women news reporters, though, were willing to find the back story of the situation. Some reasoned that Sec. Clinton was probably jet lagged from an arduous tour of the African continent and she probably snapped because was tired. The more courageous women reporters felt that Sec. Clinton was standing up for herself: why was someone asking her about her husband's, or any man's, thoughts?

It's baffling that Sec. Clinton's response is even a news story. Her response was completely justified. The question, as it was asked, made Sec. Clinton invisible by circumventing her opinions and asking for those of her husband's. You would be hard pressed to find a person who would not be annoyed if their work was ignored, discredited, and deemed non-existent.

Certainly, as an ambassador of goodwill, our Secretary of State needs to be diplomatic, patient, and understanding. Based on insider accounts from insiders, such as former White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers, I'm sure that Sec. Clinton probably does have a temper. She was a law firm partner, after all.

However, Sec. Clinton did not loose her cool; she was merely being passionate about her job. Similar to Bill Clinton or Sen. McCain -- two men whose infamous outbursts are framed as passion -- she wanted to set that student straight. While she could have gone the Dick Cheney route and told the student to go you know what himself, she instead tersely corrected the student who apparently did not know realize that the U.S. Secretary of State can think and speak for herself.

Hopefully, this incident will not turn into the media frenzy reminiscent of the Gates-Crowley affair. I really could do without another teachable moment over a beer at the White House.

Follow Natalie Holder-Winfield on Twitter: www.twitter.com/nhwinfield

Comments

[jimbeaux1961]

Given that it was her marriage to Bill Clinton that gave her national exposure, and she cited that relationship and experience as a qualification for POTUS, asking his opinion of her doesn't seem outrageous to me. She IS a diplomat, and her tone and response were NOT very diplomatic.

She simply did not handle it very well.

[Rubysparkle]

think she exhibited both vitality & vigour. In a country where a visiting Secretary of State, who also happens to be a woman, is there, with one of her diplomatic goals being to spotlight & give special attention & as well as vocal support to local activists who are fighting an epidemic of rape, it seems natural that a little emotional fire-power be given to the idea that she is there in her own right, and not as a mere vessel bearing the ideas of her husband. She exhibited a lively indignation , so much more "real", then the tick tick tock of white-gloved politalk. Very cool.
So even If the question was mistranslated, at that moment, a strong response was perfect.
I think Obama & Bill each thought : You go! You say it. Good for you.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/world/africa/07congo.html

[PresidentRobertBooth]

You cheered her behaviour?


Why?

It's not at all unreasonable to ask what her husband thinks of a certain situation when the North Korea prisoner release shows that he is in fact still influential and involved on the political stage.

Rather than acting so snappish and childish, would it really have been that difficult for her to simply answer the question in a reasonable and polite manner?

[SEAD]

Hilary is being Hilary. I find it very interesting that you didn't get any similar testy irritated response from her while she was in the Middle East and was harshly criticized and denounced for critique of the Isreali treatment of the Palestinians. Or for that matter some of the prickly questions asked of her in her recent visit to India. This is not just a error caused by an inaccurate translation but more speaks to a predisposition to put such uppitty individuals in their rightful places.

[samjer]

Thank god shes our SOS! Anybody willing to sugest that shes not the one to talk to about Obamas policy deserves to get the slap down he so richly deserved.

[Sabrina Messenger]

Maybe Hilary needs to learn how to count to 10 before answering questions. I was very disappointed by her snippy and embarrassing manner. Even if the question was intended to be a 'slight', I think that she STILL should've kept her cool and not come off as if she were acting like she's the lone woman in an all male workplace circa 1978 who still thinks she has to act tough in order to prove herself! It's not as if that were the case! You never saw Condoleeza Rice or Madeline Albright behaving in such a petulant manner. To be sure Hilary Clinton is an intelligent and brilliant woman, but she is also an overly sensitive and whiny individual as well. She had demonstrated that annoying tendency even when she was the First Lady as well as during her own illfated campaign for President.. Her tendency for petulance was one of the primary reasons why I went with Obama during the Primaries.

[Howard Covitz]

Why the sexist headline for this article?????

[miriamac]

Thank heaven this person who loses control at personal slights is not the POTUS.

[jojojo]

I don't think any Sec of State should reply with such lack of grace. Likely anyone else--male or female--would laugh it off, as she should have. In any case, what others might do is not the point. She acted horribly as our representative.

And if a man had done something similar, and had displayed the same rudeness and insecurity, I'll bet you'd be all over it, deriding him, as would the media in general. That attention and reaction would be appropriate, as it has been here.

[samjer]

The only lack of grace and rudeness came from a supposed student. If a man would have said the same thing they would have said how great he was for standing up for himself. How would you feel if someone told you to step aside and let the man speak? I bet not so good.

[Citizenchick]

There wasn't any reason for her to react the way she did. Either Bill Clinton is a world player, or he's not. If she needs more rest, she should get more rest.

Different cultures are different, a diplomat would understand that.

The kid probably wasn't even alive during her "at home, having teas and baking cookies" moment, and even if he was, he probably wouldn't have gotten it.

Her outburst was about her ego. Nothing else.

[samjer]

I think her response was justified when you hear the actual quote." what Bill Clinton thinks through your mouth."The channeling response was right on. I would have been pissed off too. Weather he acutuly ment Obama or not doesnt change the meaning. Knowing that shes in the Congo where they dont treat thier women with respect is probably another factor.

[mindsubscribe]

By the way, Mrs. Holder-Winfield, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is NOT, as you say, our "chief foreign affairs adviser", quite the contrary, she is our Chief Diplomat. Perhaps that essential nuance will alter your perspective in this case.

[Natalie Holder-Winfield - Huffpost Blogger]

Actually, she is according to the official Secretary of State website http://www.state.gov/secretary/

[mindsubscribe]

Actually, a bit more nuance (and research) is required in order to more fully understand this subject. I understand this is a blog, but some modicum of depth is still in order.

Please see below, Secretary Clinton's own words will perhaps be the source of illumination for all:

(Source: 'Meet the Press' transcript for July 26, 2009)

MR. GREGORY: But this is kind of interesting, I mean, the whole team of rivals idea. Do you have a close working relationship? Are you the voice on foreign policy, the adviser in his ear on foreign policy?

SEC'Y CLINTON: Well, I, I am the chief adviser on foreign policy, but the president makes the decisions. You know, I have a picture of former Secretary of State Seward in my office. He was a New York senator who went on to serve President Lincoln, which is part of what created this concept of team of rivals. He became one of Lincoln's closest and strongest advisers. Why? Because he understood, as I do, that the election is over. The president has to lead our country both internationally and domestically. I saw this when my husband was president. At the end of the day, it is the president who has to set and articulate policy. I'm privileged to be in a position where I am the chief adviser, I'm the chief diplomat, I'm the chief executor of the policy that the president pursues.

[mindsubscribe]

Unfortunately, Mrs. Clinton's remarks reveal once again how shockingly vulnerable Americans are when confronted with a language other than English. The highly exotic French language proved too difficult to translate into the language of Chaucer and Mrs. Clinton then chose this well studied moment to teach Africa that she's not just at home "baking cookies" like Neferteti. Ultimately, it's another embarrassing moment for Americans as we are reminded once again of how far we have fallen since Eleanor Roosevelt so elegantly scolded patriarchal minds at the United Nations with a grace that now seems nearly irretrievable. Shame on Mrs. Clinton, our top diplomat, for reacting with such crudity. One recalls her gaffe in Moscow when the entire weight of the United States Department of State, steeped in Cold War expertise for half a century, was unable to choose the correct Russian equivalent for the word "reset".

[samjer]

So what about Obamas use of the word "stupidly"? How far back did that send back the cops relations with the potus? The "reset" comment was pretty trivial in comparison and not worthy of all the words you used to decry it. The Russians didnt even care.