THE TELEGRAPH – BLOGS: Fresh from her seven nation tour of Africa – highlighted by an immensely embarrassing boogie dance in Kenya and an alligator–like snap at a defenceless Congolese student – the almost invisible secretary of state has been given a demotion in the Forbes Magazine annual list of the 100 most powerful women in the world.
Hillary Clinton has slipped eight places from 28 to 36, despite being elevated to the second most powerful position in the US government in January. How she actually achieved that drop in these circumstances would confuse even Sir Isaac Newton, but can be explained by a less than stellar performance in Foggy Bottom.
Hillary has been increasingly marginalized by the Obama team with its array of special envoys jetting across the world as well as by her own hubby who appeared like a rabbit out of a hat in Pyongyang on his own diplomatic mission two weeks ago. She looks more and more like a stern but easily flustered school teacher who’s losing control of her own class. American foreign policy under Obama is increasingly decided in the White House, not in the State Department, and has so many different tracks that it lacks any real coherence. It resembles a poorly stitched patchwork quilt rather than a carefully crafted global strategy. >>> Nile Gardiner | Thursday, August 20, 2009
