For eight years, we were told how President Bush’s gaffes were and embarrassment to America and his mistakes were an impediment to effective foreign policy. That is all in the past now. Today, we have the brilliant mind of Hillary Clinton visiting foreign countries. And while she is there, she mispronounced officials’ names and showed a decisive lack of historical knowledge:
Tiredness appeared to show Friday when she answered questions in front of 500 young Europeans at the European Parliament, where she was the highest-ranking U.S. visitor since the late U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1985.
A veteran politician, Clinton compared the complex European political environment to that of the two-party U.S. system, before adding:
"I have never understood multiparty democracy.
"It is hard enough with two parties to come to any resolution, and I say this very respectfully, because I feel the same way about our own democracy, which has been around a lot longer than European democracy."
The remark provoked much headshaking in the parliament of a bloc that likes to trace back its democratic tradition thousands of years to the days of classical Greece.
One working lunch later with EU leaders, Clinton raised more eyebrows when she referred to EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who stood beside her, as "High Representative Solano."
She also dubbed European Commission External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner as "Benito."
I may be wrong, but I don’t recall the press ever excusing President Bush’s gaffes prior to reporting them.
Mark Hemmingway at The Corner writes:
The E.U. delegate from Athens must have been particularly impressed by the Secretary of State’s command of history. Between this, the Fleet Street accolades over Obama’s handling of U.K. prime minister Gordon Brown’s recent visit, and the way the administration deftly brought Russia on board to help rein in Iran’s nuclear ambitions — they’re just running the foreign policy table. It feels so good to have the adults in charge once again.
