Hillz Hillz Hillz...

Hillz, honey...what's goin on?




You may have heard about this famous Tense Clinton Moment that took place at a Congolsese university in Kinshasa yesterday. A question from a male university student at a town hall meeting - (that, it turns out, may have been mistranslated) - was met with some annnnngry words by our Secretary of State.

I'm having a multi-layered response to this. On the one hand (the hand that holds a degree in psychology) I say to myself:

"Hillary," I say, confusing Hillary Clinton with myself, "you are not helping your reputation. This feeds exactly into that caricatured 'feminazi' stereotype your detractors already box you into. The Limbaugh crew is going to be all over it. Plus... you're a diplomat, and I hate to point this out but its kind of your job to keep your cool. You could have explained how you felt about that question in a constructive way here, and still made your point. A teachable moment. Or really, you could have just picked your battles and let it slide. A question about China's pending world domination is nothing to scoff at."

On the other hand (the hand that holds a degree in women's studies) (I tend to keep my degrees in separate hands, lest they quarrel) I say to myself:

"Hillz, I feel you. That was not cool. Even as I TRY to think of a comparable example of what would happen if a man were asked what his wife thought, contextually it's totally different. A man being asked in Africa for his wife's opinion on foreign policy would never even have to consider that his own opinion was being disregarded as unimportant. I see where you're going with this, and I like your huevos."

Is my first hand a tool of the patriarchy? Is my second just winning the battle but losing the war?

Deep thoughts...