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THE SMART NEWS SOURCE | Feb 08 2012 06:03 | LAST UPDATED Feb 08 2012 06:03 |
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No matter where she goes, it seems that Hillary Clinton cannot quite escape the international shadow cast by her husband. Usually polished in public, the US secretary of state's calm demeanour momentarily cracked on Monday when a Congolese student asked her about Bill Clinton's view on a foreign policy issue. "My husband is not secretary of state," Clinton snapped. "I am." The encounter, in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, came during an 11-day whistle-stop tour of Africa. The male student had asked her what "Mr Clinton" thought about a controversial $9-billion deal between the DRC and China, in which the African country has traded rights to develop its rich copper reserves for help in building roads, railways and schools. "You want me to tell you what my husband thinks?" Clinton asked sharply. "If you want my opinion, I will tell you my opinion. I am not going to be channelling my husband." The exchange came at a sensitive time for Clinton, whose African trip has been somewhat overshadowed by her husband's humanitarian mission to rescue two US journalists held by Kim Jong-il's regime in North Korea last week. The former US president was lauded for his success in securing their freedom in a trip carried out independently from the Obama administration. After keeping a low profile for a time after she fractured her elbow in a fall two months ago, the US secretary of state embarked on visits to India and Thailand in July, followed by her tour of seven African states, in a gruelling return to the frontline of globe-trotting diplomacy. She took in a Masai dance display in Kenya before travelling to meet SA President Jacob Zuma on Saturday with a promise to re-energise bilateral relations with the US. But throughout her visit, she has been peppered with questions about her husband's North Korean visit. She told CNN on Sunday that his trip was "not in any way a government mission". When asked what he had told her about North Korea, she replied that she had a long-held policy of not disclosing the content of her private conversations with her husband. Commentators in the US have raised questions over her role, given Barack Obama's mission to revamp America's reputation overseas. In an article last month, the founder of the online Daily Beast, Tina Brown, described her as "invisible", pointing out that she was missing from Obama's recent trip to meet Vladimir Putin in Moscow, and that Vice-President Joe Biden has taken the lead on policy in Afghanistan. - guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media 2009  CONTINUES BELOW TOPICS IN THIS ARTICLE
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