Hillary: Bull In China Shop Diplomat

April 2, 2010 03:20


Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is often described as sidelined from the big jobs in foreign policy, given her political rivalry with the president. But to look at the areas where she is active shows a lot of messes.

IBD Editorials

Diplomacy: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is often described as sidelined from the big jobs in foreign policy, given her political rivalry with the president. But to look at the areas where she is active shows a lot of messes.

As if it were not bad enough that the Obama administration is failing mightily to lead the Free World on security as Iran goes nuclear, the record of his secretary of state is one of misfires and small blunders in areas where she has a free hand.

The latest was annoying Canada last Wednesday by horning in on a maternal and child health program it’s creating for the Group of Eight’s June summit in Huntsville, Ontario.

Clinton demanded that abortion be included in Canada’s initiative and it didn’t go over well. Canada had taken the lead in creating this program for the G-8 in a good example of the “strategic multilateralism” the Obama administration claims to favor.

Clinton’s demand was disruptive, because the Canadians had already spent time and resources identifying priorities and found that abortion would not work well abroad. So Clinton’s unsolicited advice was “pok(ing) her nose in areas that are not her business,” as a Conservative Canadian member of parliament put it.

“Canada can make up its own mind on what its policy is on maternal health and how we define it,” the MP told LifeNews.com.

Given that Clinton has been making a lot of soggy remarks lately about women being the center of foreign policy, it’s likely that her own personal views were driving her statement — even to the detriment of Obama’s “strategic multilateralism.”

Or perhaps she was just appealing to United Nations bureaucrats and nongovernmental organizations for support.

Either way, Clinton’s Canadian blunder is not an isolated case.

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