Hillary Clinton on Meet the Press

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was the sole guest on Meet the Press this morning. The entire hour was spent on her updates on world matters. It was an interesting show, to be sure.

I listened and jotted down a few notes. Lately I have been feeling almost sorry for Clinton as it seems she has been shut out of the decision making in the Oval Office. It appears that Joe Biden isn't so willing to step aside and let Hillary do the foreign policy stuff. Biden is said to have been put on the Obama ticket due to his age, years in office and foreign relations experience. The fact that Biden has proven to be on the wrong side of history in his votes was not a problem to the Obama people. With Democrats, it is usually appearance over substance.

Clinton is happy with the U.N. Security Council's Resolution 1874 which is strongly worded against North Korea and in support of stronger sanctions. She says that North Korea must change its behavior and that the international community has sent the message. She claims North Korea will not be rewarded as in the past for bad behavior. I still have visions of Madeleine Albright doing the macarena and sipping champagne while watching the parade during the Communist Day celebrations in No Korea with the leadership there. No mention of Hillary popping the cork in the near future.

She credited the Bush administration with making progress in relations with India. She said she is building on their progress. She didn't, however, credit the Bush administration in recognizing the importance of the 6 party talks with No Korea and insisting they continue - while receiving criticism from the Democrats in Congress. She only said that China is a productive partner in talks with No Korea.

She spoke of the ridiculous 'reset' button exercise with Russia. She didn't talk about the embarrassing presentation of the button and the incorrect language used then. She didn't talk about the generally blaise reception she received there. She was talking sunshine and lollipops.

She spoke of the new strategy in Afghanistan. She didn't say it was the surge strategy that proved successful in Iraq, though, that is being implemented there. You know, the one she and Obama ridiculed to General Petraeus while in the Senate. The one both of them said would never work.

She spoke of Israel's right to sovereignty but not to the "meddling" done by President Obama so freely in the settlement issue. He's feeling free to meddle in Israel, the only democratic country in the region but not so free to meddle in Hondurus or Iran. Interesting.

Clinton doesn't agree with the statement that the Obama administration is carrying on with the foreign policies of George W. Bush. She denies the truth of that. It's her job, I suppose.

One question I wish that David Gregory had asked was about this: in a recent AP report from Afghanistan, Obama's special envoy to Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, was asked about the upcoming presidential election. He was asked about the honesty of the election. Holbrooke was in central Afghan as Hamid Karzai's first election rally in Kabul was occurring. "Karzai praised the role of foreign troops but promised that rules governing their presence will change if he wins re-election." That from the AP account.

Then, Holbrooke said on a military base, "Elections here will be imperfect. But I am an American who lived through an imperfect election eight years ago. I am not going to hold Afghanistan to standards which even the United States does not achieve.'

I would have liked Gregory to ask if Hillary supported such statements from an envoy representing America on foreign soil - in a country where we have soldiers on the ground. She wouldn't understand the problem, I'm sure, but it would be good to highlight the continued tin ear of the far left to the decorum necessary on foreign soil. They simply do not get it. The 2000 election worked as it was supposed to in America. The process was followed. Every far left newspaper in the country sent teams to Florida to re-count votes. The fact has been shown that Bush did win Florida. It just wasn't the outcome Holbrooke wanted. He thought he would be Secretary of State for President Al Gore and is bitter he was denied his time in the sun. He was gleeful to be a criticizing pundit of all things Bush over the last eight years, thinking he'd be Hillary's Secretary of State. Now he is back to being an envoy for Obama.

Karma.