Should SoS Clinton Play a Subservient Role in the Obama Adminstration?

Photo credits: Getty

The trouble with blogging is that sometimes you’re compelled to respond to a post at another web site so defamatory of a respected leader you cannot overlook it, yet you hesitate to link to it and give it any more play. I’m conflicted to say the least about responding to Clive Crook’s sexist post today in the Financial Times, UK.

The near certainty that Hillary Clinton will soon assume the mantle of Secretary of State in the Obama Administration has stirred up the good old boys’ network in the media both here and abroad, and Mr. Crook represents very well his partners in the criminal activity of tabloid journalism.

Crook begins on a suspiciously conciliatory note by asserting that Bill Clinton should not be viewed as an obstacle to Hillary’s appointment to the top cabinet position in the Obama Administration.

In the next paragraph, however, the apparently omniscient Crook assumes the stature to judge Sen. Clinton’s competence in foreign affairs inadequate. The great man would then lead us to believe that he is also clairvoyant and therefore capable of assessing her motives and predicting where her ambitions might lead her.

After dismissing Clinton’s qualifications for the position at State and questioning her integrity, Crook poses a series of blatantly sexist questions: “Could Hillary defer to Obama, and carry out his instructions to the best of her ability? I doubt it. And it would not help that everyone would be watching for the first sign of friction or insubordination. The soap-opera dimension would be highly counter-productive.”

Note how Crook emphasizes that Hillary, like a dutiful spouse, should rightfully expect to fill a purely subservient role at State, obediently saying yes to Obama’s every wish and command instead of engaging in a mutually respectful relationship in which she is empowered to share her honest opinions and best judgment in any given situation.

In one respect, I might agree with Crook: If Obama wants a cabinet of yes men, he should not appoint as secretary of state a strong, intelligent, well-qualified woman who will not hesitate to speak truth to power.