The second flap occurred on November 1 in Jerusalem, where Clinton abruptly reversed course on settlements--this time saying that a proposal by the Netanyahu government that falls short of the freeze Obama has sought nevertheless amounts to an “unprecedented” concession by Israel. The formulation--which infuriated Arab leaders and made it seem that Obama had surrendered to Netanyahu--had not been endorsed by the White House, which was not pleased with the statement. The Times subsequently reported that even Clinton’s aides considered the remark poorly worded. “Our leading diplomat is very undiplomatic,” says a Democratic official with a Jewish organization in Washington. “Sometimes that’s helpful, sometimes it’s not.”
En route to Egypt earlier this month, Hillary Clinton appeared in the press cabin of her plane bearing chocolates for her press corps. Not that she has much love for them: On one seven-day trip earlier this year, she spoke to journalists just once. It’s an old Hillary duality--disdain for the media coupled with occasional efforts at outreach. When she campaigned through Iowa as a presidential candidate, she would sometimes appear on her press bus--where she almost never made herself available for questions--to pass out bagels and coffee to reporters.
It’s a reminder that, in some ways, Hillary the candidate never disappeared. When Clinton travels the world, her trips can have a campaign-like feel. She still keeps an exhausting schedule of public events and town halls--only now in destinations like Beijing and Kinshasa instead of Concord and Ottumwa. Following her are some familiar faces from the old Hillaryland gang, including her confidante and personal aide, Huma Abedin, and her former Senate press secretary, Philippe Reines. (Her chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, typically remains in Washington, leaving deputy chief of staff Jake Sullivan to oversee the road show.)
Perhaps the campaign feel helps to explain some of Hillary’s verbal burps. While many people think of Clinton as scripted and cautious, other facets of her personality--temper, self-assurance, sarcasm--have always broken through her robotic façade. Indeed, the hyper-disciplined Hillary of memory is an exaggeration. When she was a presidential candidate, Clinton’s mouth repeatedly caused her trouble. Think back: There was her surprisingly inept stumble at a pivotal debate on the subject of driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants; her false recollection of landing under sniper fire in Bosnia in the 1990s; her angry outburst of “shame on you, Barack Obama!” at an Ohio press conference; and her utterly tone-deaf invocation of Bobby Kennedy’s 1968 assassination as a reason for continuing her campaign even after Obama had effectively sewn up the Democratic nomination. “Hillary’s message discipline is more myth than reality,” says one former aide to her 2008 presidential campaign. “The campaign lived in regular fear that she’d say something to throw us off message.”
Mistakes on the trail can cost votes. But loose talk in diplomacy can make it hard for enemies and allies alike to know what’s coming off the cuff and what represents official U.S. policy. Which is why Barack Obama may be pining for the Hillary Clinton he thought he knew.
Michael Crowley is a senior editor of The New Republic.
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COMMENTS (8)
Give me blunt over robotic any day. Let er rip Madame Secretary.
Give me blunt over robotic any day. Let er rip Madame Secretary.
I'm with you, WandreyCer. What a breath of fresh air she is!!
I'm with you, WandreyCer. What a breath of fresh air she is!!
I’m not a bit surprised. Hillary, first of all, is glib, as her infamous, “I could sit home and bake cookies....” shows. When she gets put on the spot, her choices seem limited to is either robotic discipline or drama (tears), sarcasm (Pakistan) and make-believe (foreign policy). She is actually quite mechanical in her thinking and has that unsettling way of lurching forward or backward at odd times as if her “processors” shut down for a moment or two. Where Obama gracefully drew seemingly disconnected facts and themes together to explain how he sees the world to voters, Hillary mainly recited ten-point programs during the primary.
It is exactly these types of weird events I anti ... view full comment
I’m not a bit surprised. Hillary, first of all, is glib, as her infamous, “I could sit home and bake cookies....” shows. When she gets put on the spot, her choices seem limited to is either robotic discipline or drama (tears), sarcasm (Pakistan) and make-believe (foreign policy). She is actually quite mechanical in her thinking and has that unsettling way of lurching forward or backward at odd times as if her “processors” shut down for a moment or two. Where Obama gracefully drew seemingly disconnected facts and themes together to explain how he sees the world to voters, Hillary mainly recited ten-point programs during the primary.
It is exactly these types of weird events I anticipated when she was named Secretary. A Sec. of State must have a feel for the dynamics of diplomacy, national cultures of and negotiating process over a command of facts. Hillary doesn’t have that type of instinct. If she had, she never would have praised Netenyahu for his “unprecedented” contributions to the peace process, a Diplomacy 101 departure from the Administration’s policy. It’s scary.
Gotta agree with CAM2 on this one -- if Crowley's sources are correct, Hillary's gaffes are among the principal reasons for why the Administration has made such a hash of Israeli-Arab matters. And repeated blunt talk can make matters worse with Pakistan and North Korea going forward, even if nothing terrible has resulted from her comments yet. Sucking it up and saying nothing much in public is the essence of diplomacy, while public candor can create considerable harm. See John Bolton as an example.
Gotta agree with CAM2 on this one -- if Crowley's sources are correct, Hillary's gaffes are among the principal reasons for why the Administration has made such a hash of Israeli-Arab matters. And repeated blunt talk can make matters worse with Pakistan and North Korea going forward, even if nothing terrible has resulted from her comments yet. Sucking it up and saying nothing much in public is the essence of diplomacy, while public candor can create considerable harm. See John Bolton as an example.
I don't know - this is a classic Crowley fetal position. For example, in the statement, [“My husband is not secretary of state, I am,” she snapped. “I am not going to be channeling my husband.”] I don't see a "a quick temper". Distraction, yet - but that has to do with the dynamics of US journalism, or "journalism", rather than with Hillary's candour, forthrightness, alleged lack of diplomatic skills or, for God's sake, "gaffes".
And to compare her to Bolton on the basis of "public candor" appears to me to strain "candor" to its breaking point. Bolton's problem was not "candor", but that he was and is an asshole with no judgement. Rumsfeld put his foot in it repeatedly not because ... view full comment
I don't know - this is a classic Crowley fetal position. For example, in the statement, [“My husband is not secretary of state, I am,” she snapped. “I am not going to be channeling my husband.”] I don't see a "a quick temper". Distraction, yet - but that has to do with the dynamics of US journalism, or "journalism", rather than with Hillary's candour, forthrightness, alleged lack of diplomatic skills or, for God's sake, "gaffes".
And to compare her to Bolton on the basis of "public candor" appears to me to strain "candor" to its breaking point. Bolton's problem was not "candor", but that he was and is an asshole with no judgement. Rumsfeld put his foot in it repeatedly not because "unknown unknowns" is unsound in substance or is too openly courageous, but because "stuff happens" and "you go into war with the army you got" demonstrated astonishing tonedeafness, arrogance and insensitivity, even for a Bush official.
I do agree, however, with CAM2 about the fundamental difference between Obama and Hillary: Obama is a Cartesian who deploys inductive logic as a tool of persuasion; Hillary is an inductive thinker who uses deductive processes to impose, it would seem, mental discipline on herself and order on her environment. I don't think the latter makes you gaffe-prone, but in certain contexts, it might not come across as overly diplomatic. "Gaffe", no; too much candour out of context, possibly.
To be honest, I don't find any of these gaffes to be so terrible, and some were refreshingly honest and others were hyperbole of the moment. She has probably made hundreds, if not thousands of statements the past year and from that you have cobbled together a half dozen iffy statements. Besides then, I don't see how anyone can make a hash out of Israeli-Arab matters considering just how truly screwed up the underlying dynamic. A combination of Jesus, Mohammed, and Moses couldn't get that straightened out. Beyond this, this has ignored the great job she has done in Honduras.
To be honest, I don't find any of these gaffes to be so terrible, and some were refreshingly honest and others were hyperbole of the moment. She has probably made hundreds, if not thousands of statements the past year and from that you have cobbled together a half dozen iffy statements. Besides then, I don't see how anyone can make a hash out of Israeli-Arab matters considering just how truly screwed up the underlying dynamic. A combination of Jesus, Mohammed, and Moses couldn't get that straightened out. Beyond this, this has ignored the great job she has done in Honduras.
What Blackton said.
What Blackton said.
I generally love TNR, but, honestly, this article seems like it should be in Us Weekly or In Touch. It's just a bit too passive aggressive for me, and I think the analysis is way off.
I generally love TNR, but, honestly, this article seems like it should be in Us Weekly or In Touch. It's just a bit too passive aggressive for me, and I think the analysis is way off.