'I Will Not Be Channeling My Husband'

  • Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has long been fighting suggestions that she's been sidelined or overshadowed by others in making foreign policy decisions. But Monday, her heated response to a question about her superstar-status husband may put the question back into the spotlight.

    On Monday, at a town hall in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a Congolese student asked the secretary and former NBA basketball player Dikembe Mutombo a question through an English translator.

    "We've all heard about the Chinese contracts in this county, the interferences from the World Bank against this contract. What does Mr. Clinton think, through the mouth of Mrs. Clinton, and what does Mr. Mutombo think on this situation?" the translator said.

    Clinton paused nearly nine seconds before responding.

    "Wait, you want me to tell you what my husband thinks? My husband is not the secretary of state. I am. So, you ask my opinion, I will tell you my opinion. I'm not going to be channeling my husband," she said sharply.

    It turned out the translator had misstated the question, which actually involved President Obama's opinion, not former President Bill Clinton. The student apologized to Clinton after the event.

    But the damage had been done: The raw nerve was not only struck, it was seared.

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    Clinton's intense irritation followed the successful surprise trip Bill Clinton took to North Korea to free two American journalists detained there, a trip that eclipsed her own exhausting mission to Africa.

    Her response -- albeit, due to a misunderstanding -- showed how unwelcome the suggestion was that Clinton is her husband's spokesperson.

    The news of his visit broke after Clinton had left for her trip to Africa last Monday. Since then, she has been peppered with questions about her husband's trip, and whether she had played a role in it, rather than what she planned to accomplish in Africa.

Wow. She was openly PISSED. Aren't diplomats supposed to be...well...diplomatic?

This just demonstrates that she wasn't really qualified for this job to begin with. She spent her whole life riding Bill's coattails and now she's cracking under the strain.