Thursday, July 02, 2009

BARACK OBAMA, HILLARY CLINTON

Connecting the Dots on a Hillary-Obama Rift . . .

Ordinarily, the fact that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton isn't joining President Obama on his trip to Moscow next week wouldn't be worth a second glance. The secretary of state doesn't always join the president on big overseas trips, and she did just injure her arm.

But then you recall this story from a few days ago . . .

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged President Obama for two days to toughen his language on Iran before he did so, and then was surprised when he condemned Iran's crackdown on demonstrators last week, administration officials say.

And then a few days before that . . .

Even while supporting the president’s approach, senior members of the administration, including Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, would like to strike a stronger tone in support of the protesters, administration officials said.

It's supremely unlikely those leaks came from Obama's people; for them, there's no upside to a story that implies, "the secretary of state thinks the president is wimping out."

We saw some foreign-policy disagreements during the primary, and now the secretary's traditional role as the point person on all events, crises, and issues beyond our borders is being hemmed in by various special envoys and czars. Yesterday, the White House announced Vice President Biden would be overseeing progress in Iraq.

Is she tiring of him? Is he tiring of her? Or is this just the usual sand in the gears?

07/02 10:57 AMShare