At first the media said Hillary Clinton's visit to Africa was overshadowed by her husband's trip to North Korea. Now the work she's trying to do — including stopping rape in Congo — is overshadowed by coverage of that overshadowing.
Clinton is the first Secretary of State to enter the Congolese war zone, and she has an important mission: to urge an end to sexual violence in a country the United Nations calls "the rape capital of the world." Hundreds of thousands of women — and many boys and men — have been raped in the last 10 years alone, often by members of the Congolese military. Anneke Van Woudenberg of Human Rights Watch tells the story of a 15-year-old girl who was kept in a hole and repeatedly raped over the course of five months, when she became pregnant, at which point her family disowned her. Such crimes are all too common in Congo, and Clinton urged President Joseph Kabila both to protect his people and to stem the unregulated mineral trade that gives rise to much of Congo's military activity.
But none of this is very fun or funny, and what the media really wants to talk about is Clinton supposedly getting huffy about her husband. In response to a question about Bill Clinton's opinion on a financial issue, Clinton reportedly "bristled," saying, "You want me to tell you what my husband thinks? My husband is not secretary of state, I am...If you want my opinion, I will tell you my opinion. I am not going to be channeling my husband." Her intent was likely to redirect attention where it belongs — on Congo — but of course her remark had the opposite effect, generating analysis of Clinton's supposed frustration and her relationship with Bill.
Today, Maureen Dowd snipes that "looking unhinged about your marriage on an international stage hardly empowers women" and accuses Clinton of being "steamed about Bill celebrating his upcoming 63rd birthday in Las Vegas with his posse." But Tina Brown's take in The Daily Beast is perhaps the most annoying. She generously allows that, "contrary to received opinion, I am told Bill's wife was not a bit miffed at her husband's bounding back into the limelight with that glamorous Team America rescue of damsels in distress from evil North Korea." But then she backtracks with this fun little metaphorical quip: "it's just that-oh God, the trouble is that when Bill bounces back up, he bounces so high he always ends up landing on her." Poor Hillary! Brown continues,
Madam Secretary was doing so well at grabbing back the spotlight, delivering hard messages to devious, corrupt African strongmen, issuing warnings to Somali militants, busting a move on the dance floor at a gala dinner in Nairobi. In Congo she was particularly stressed. She had spent a day touring a refugee camp, hearing harrowing stories of rape, persecution, and female subjugation, issues she has long made hers. I suspect she'd just about had it with having to tiptoe around so many big-dog male egos-Obama, Bill, Africa's Messrs. Kibaki, Zuma, and Kabila. And p.s., was it necessary for Bill to be yukking it up on his birthday with the old adoring pals at such a fancy, high-priced restaurant as Craftsteak?
There is too much to talk about in this one...Where to start...
ReplyDeleteFirst, we all know that hilary's appointment as SecState was a consolation prize to bring back the ENTIRE Clinton staff.
Second, solving human rights in Africa should begin with the African National Congress. It's a freaking continent!!
Third, apparently even the third world doesn't even trust her judgment more than her husband.