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Hillary Clinton - Source: Reuters -
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You can't just walk through the front door of US State Department in Washington DC; there's a perpetual checkpoint at the top of the street, guards outside, and recessed steel bars that rise out of the driveway, presumably to prevent suicide attacks.
All of this is very good for a slow-witted television journalist like myself, or the local pickup cameraman who doesn't know John Key from Helen Clark, and doesn't care. Plenty of time is thus allowed to alert him that the Foreign Minister's Lincoln is pulling up, and, yes, that worried looking guy in the pinstriped suit isn't his functionary, it's actually Mr McCully himself.
But the Foreign Minister is clearly overjoyed at the prospect of Hillary Clinton visiting on January 15. It's what hacks call "a good get", i.e. a name brand that can occupy column inches, and lead items on the telly. Serious issues will be discussed, friendship will be cemented, some of La Clinton's glamour may even rub off on him.
Having said that, when McCully visited last year, and did what the hacks and operatives there call a "spray" (or photo op) with Madame Secretary, he didn't look at all like the cat that got the diplomatic cream.
He looked like a very naughty boy who had just endured a visit to the headmaster's office, and wouldn't be sitting down any time soon.
For this visit, the parameters have already been outlined. Trade will be on the agenda, which is as you'd expect. The simpleton's approach to foreign interaction with the US used to be, in reference to the anti-nuke ban: "Do they still hate us?" Now that that's been digested, it's more along the lines of, "Might they buy us?" Even though the US is broke and in decline, it has markets New Zealand wants.
But there'll be another aspect to this visit - the gaffe factor.
Sure, Hillary is a political rock star. Initially, Obama's appointment of her as his top diplomat was greeted with sighs of relief. Putting aside that it's a fantastic way to get your political enemy out of Washington DC, commentators generally agreed that she was hard-working, well-intentioned, and disciplined.
Now some are re-evaluating their views. Early into her tenure, Clinton blabbed to reporters on replacing North Korea's Kim Jong Il, breaking a long held diplomatic convention. Then she went thermonuclear in the Congo when a questioner mistranslated a question that seemed to suggest that Bill Clinton's opinion was being sought.
"My husband isn't the Secretary of State," she shouted, "I am. I am not going to be channeling my husband."
There's more, as detailed in this great piece from Michael Crowley of "The New Republic", which is the Democrat house journal for thoughtful people.
Summary? All politics, and little diplomacy makes Hillary a very wobbly prospect indeed.
So this upcoming visit may not be the diplomatic good news and snooze fest that both sides are hoping for. Given what some believe is the Secretary's recurrent foot-in-mouth disease, history might be avenged: Murray McCullly may end up looking like the headmaster, and Clinton the naughty student.
Read more of Tim Wilson's blogs.
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