Hillary

I do not think that Hillary Clinton is being marginalized, yet.

In her first trip abroad since taking office, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will travel to Asia, departing Washington, DC on February 15. Secretary Clinton will visit Japan (February 16-18), Indonesia (February 18-19), the Republic of Korea (February 19-20), and China (February 20-22).

As she prepares for her first overseas trip as Secretary of State I got to thinking of the Hillary I know, not the Hillary some imagine.

There are those, like wifebot, who are convinced she drank the Kool-Aid and is dedicated to carrying out the foreign policy goals of his Oliness.  These are the people, many former Hillary supporters too, who always ask me, “aren’t you thrilled with the new Secretary of State’, ‘What an achievement.”  I’m not here to pass on how I respond to them.

These people, IMHO, truly imagine that Mrs. Clinton realized the error of her ways and has been doing penance since she bowed out of the race last spring.  She latched on to Obama’s superior foreign policy concepts with a vengeance, then asked to be given the opportunity to sell the policies to the world.

I say Cow Patties.

President Obama is no dummy.  He knew very well that the person his team blasted as just a first lady, is in fact brilliant and incredibly well informed on world issues.  He on the other had no clue and proved it in many a debate, yet I believe he is smart enough to know he had no clue.  The policy she and he will be managing is her policy that he has embraced and not the other way around.

Now I’m not saying I trust him any more than Blago.  I’m just saying that I think she is really in charge of this game and, and the “economic crisis” has given her a window of opportunity to amaze the world and all Americans with the depth of her brilliance.  Essentially, he and a brilliant staff, framed the entire campaign, trumped her at every move leaving her always playing catch up.  Now she has the very visible ball of foreign policy to frame in her image.

But you ask, where has she been?  Why has Joe Biden been traveling and speaking about policy?

She, dear friends, has been doing what sets Hillary Clinton apart from all others.  She has been in her room studying.  Preparing and learning before jumping into the battle.

Joe Biden speaking to that security forum in Munich was the correct person to be there.  It was almost entirely heads of state or their second in command.  It was a higher level, no real work sort of deal.  Had Obama sent his Secretary of State, some would have seen that as a slap in the face, in fact I bet it was Secretary Clinton’s decision. Update: Since initially posting this at Partizane, I’ve learned that I was wrong on the count of attendees. “13 heads of state and government, as well as 46 ministers and 6 heads of international organizations have announced their attendance at the 45th International Security Conference.” http://unian.net/eng/news/news-299345.html My response to the reader who pointed out the true numbers: “typical bosses meet and would have been a real waste of Hill’s valuable time. Joe has 4 years to waste on funerals and useless meetings where no real work is done.”

And you worry about those other strong women, Rice and Power.  Rice as UN Ambassador is strickly a spokesperson for the administration.  Power on the otherhand, will be in a position to back stab but she will also be in a position to be closely watched and squashed by Obama if needed.  If those two are all Hillary has to worry about then her job should be easy.

Hillary has been quiet, Hillary has been working hard to prepare for her role and the immediate needs of the upcoming trip.  I think most of us normal people have no idea about the level of focus she will give to the countries and leaders she is about to visit.  I think those leaders are about to be amazed by the focus she brings to the table and the uncanny knowledge one can only get by hard, detailed studying.

Bon Voyage Madam Secretary.  I know you will make us proud.

Originally posted at Partizane