Sunday, August 30, 2009

Clinton's Outburst in Congo Raises Concerns About Her Diplomatic Skills


A couple weeks ago, Senator Hillary Clinton visited Africa in order to strengthen U.S. diplomacy and to fight against the rape epidemic in many impoverished nations. During one of her speeches in Congo, a university student asked for her husband's opinion on a specific international issue. Ms. Clinton responded,

"Wait, you want me to tell you what my husband thinks? My husband is not the Secretary of State, I am. So you ask my opinion, I will tell you my opinion. I'm not going to be channeling my husband."

Conservative news station, Fox News attacks Clinton’s diplomatic capabilities, questioning the extent to which her emotions may cloud her future judgments.

While Clinton's response was unnecessarily harsh, her current emotional state is at least understandable. Clinton's presence in the White House has been drastically overshadowed by both her husband and President Obama. For example, when two American journalists were held captive in North Korea for almost six months, the White House chose to send Bill Clinton instead of his wife to ask for an official pardon from Kim Jong-Il.

We often ask to see the 'real' side of politicians, but when their emotions finally come to light we immediately criticize them for being inappropriate, or unprofessional. It is completely reasonable for Ms. Clinton to seem frustrated when asked a question about her husband, who seems to be slowly inching his way into his wife's political position as she remains somewhat sidelined. In fact, it perplexes me as to why the former president's opinion should matter in the slightest when weighed against that of the Secretary of State, someone who has a legitimate amount of power and diplomatic influence throughout the world.

Despite the aforementioned criticisms of their article, Fox News raises some difficult questions regarding Clinton's ability to lead. If she is so easily provoked, what kind of diplomat will she be? As the article puts it,

“One gets a little concerned when an issue of more consequence comes along and she might indulge in a personal perspective as opposed to something that's good for the country as a whole.”

Clinton’s poor self control and reliance on emotion when making key decisions will drastically shape the future of humanity. For this reason it becomes critical that we continue to ask these kinds of questions in order to ensure the safety and advancement of our global community.

No comments:

Post a Comment