WASHINGTON -- I have been following Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's first foreign policy jaunt with my customary discernment in matters regarding the Clintons. Frankly, I am very uncomfortable with her title, secretary of state. She termed her Asian trip a "listening tour." Does that bring back memories? She met with foreign leaders, but she commanded more attention for meeting with "giggly" students on a campus and appearing on an Indonesian variety show called "Awesome." There she discoursed on the pop culture of teenagers but demurred when asked to sing. She mugged for the paparazzi, glad-handed crowds and explained her informality as "a way that is not traditional, not confined by the ministerial greeting and the staged handshake photo."
So after watching this trivialization of statecraft, I shall continue to think of the former senator from New York not as Secretary of State Clinton but as candidate Clinton. Not surprisingly, candidate Clinton has brought to the State Department the most politically seasoned staff ever. As she campaigned in Asia, she was accompanied by at least two of her longtime political operatives. One is Huma Abedin, from candidate Clinton's days on the Hill. Abedin carries the title "senior adviser." What she knows about foreign policy remains a mystery, but she knows the Clinton political operation. On this trip, according to The Washington Post, Abedin "silently will hand Clinton a glass of water when her voice rasps during a briefing." Another veteran Clintonista on the trip has been Kiki McLean, a former press aide to Bill Clinton in his days as governor.