As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wended her way through
chosen portions of Africa, she collected journalistic kudos for her
mere existence. In South Africa she was lauded for her willingness
to participate in pseudo-African social dancing that is closer to
burlesque bump and grind than any Soweto Saturday high life. The
local Xhosa ladies were quite amused.
In Nigeria she gave advice to its president to seek out and
destroy terrorism while also suggesting that he focus on needed
economic development and anti-corruption programs. Supposedly the
conversations were more detailed than that, but one shouldn’t count
on it. On the other side of the continent in East Africa where a
virtual think tank of experts are available to the heavily staffed
United States Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, Secretary Clinton worked
hard to restrain herself from overwhelming the diplomats and other
staff with her exceptional insights.
At each stop Mrs. Clinton is reported to have offered her
guidance to local leaders apparently unable to figure out for
themselves their nation’s problems. This is of course in addition
to her well-honed skills in social interaction with the “little
people.” Sarcasm aside, Hillary’s pretence to interest and
knowledge is no different than the traveling circus of political
appointees, and other patronizing notables from Washington,
Hollywood and Cambridge, who circulate about the “dark continent.”
Possibly with worthy intentions, but with very little in the way of
practical experience, these “do-gooders” personally profit from the
credit they gain from simply being there. Unfortunately, the
advantages for their hosts are minimal.
The hard working professional staffs of American official
missions — to say nothing of the NGOs — hand carry these VIPs to
their pre-arranged informal contacts with ordinary folk as well as
the pampered local potentates. It all can be quite enjoyable for
the visitors, but of little utility to either the host country or
the diplomatic representatives involved. For some reason, however,
this sort of high profile visiting, while not new, has become
particularly fashionable during the Obama Administration.
To be fair, Hillary appears to enjoy traipsing around the world.
She is not a good administrator and being away from the seventh
floor of State allows her to avoid her executive duties. Reportedly
she is a very social person who loves being the center of
attention. In this sense her interests and personality coincide
with White House political desires. It’s as if President Obama had
hired a former Czarina as the official American top envoy.
The White House has sold the idea to the developing world that
Hillary Clinton as the wife of former president Bill Clinton
carries more political weight as Secretary of State than others
have in the same position. That’s considered an advantage in
American diplomacy. The truth is that the Obama Administration
wants to keep Hillary as far away from foreign policy decisions as
possible. Having her swan about the world as she recently did keeps
her active, feted, and out of the way.
Upon winding up her whirlwind visit to various sub-Saharan
countries, Secretary Clinton was spirited off to Ankara supposedly
to coordinate a U.S./Turkey response to the tragically unfolding
events in Syria. Nothing more clearly displays Madame Secretary’s
lack of knowledge of key matters of foreign affairs than to put her
in the middle of a breaking military/political crisis. Hillary
knows little to nothing about Turkey, Syria, the Levant, insurgency
in general or, for that matter, complicated Sunni/Shia Islamic
issues. But then neither does Barack Obama. Actually, she may know
a bit more.
Hillary Clinton is usually quite attuned to the domestic
political nuances of her role as chief of American foreign affairs.
Why would she allow herself to be shunted about on a seemingly
perpetual “Grand Tour”? The answer is simple. There is nothing she
can do about it. Obama’s national security insiders don’t want to
take a chance on Hillary edging some of the foreign policy
spotlight away from her boss. Out of sight, out of mind is the best
way to handle the Hillary Clinton issue. They have Bill Clinton
sewn up with a major appearance at the Democrat convention in North
Carolina. That’s all the Clintons they can stand.
All this “to-ing and fro-ing” must drive the hardworking
American career ambassadors and their staffs abroad quite crazy.
“Who the hell needs to coordinate yet another visit by a Washington
bigwig — especially the ever-demanding Secretary of State?” The
job of the U.S. foreign diplomatic mission is to represent the
interests of the country. Visits by high- ranking politicians,
officials of all kinds, and certainly big donor film stars must be
carefully orchestrated. Even then such occasions can be
counterproductive. To have the Sec. of State drop in with her own
“take” on current events — and you know that’s Hillary’s style —
is at best of doubtful utility, to put it diplomatically.
Nonetheless, this may be a lucky break for some countries that
may need the U.S. Secretary of State to give them a sense of
contemporary relevance. As soon as the White House can figure some
place to send her, she’ll be on the road again and out of the
domestic spotlight. Of course, there is that unfortunate scene of
her “standing by her man” at the forthcoming North Carolina
convention. At least she won’t hear any shouts of “Monica, Monica”
from that crowd as she did leaving the U.S. Consulate in
Alexandria, Egypt.
