Jezebel 
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New York, 1:45 AM
Tue Nov 10
67 posts in the last 24 hours
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08/12/09
That said, you write that that the press could help Clinton by focusing on the actual issues at hand.
Well, Clinton (and Obama) wants to frame her visit as being all about democracy, being tough on corrupt African leaders, helping defenseless Congolese women (I am with Texas in Africa on this). That may be so, but it obscures the larger rationale for Ms Clinton's visit. Which incidentally is not a secret since State Department officials can't stop wanting to tell the media about it, but the media won't report it. That is two things:
By 2025 the US government expects to import at least 25% of its oil suppliers from African sources–Clinton is visiting three suppliers on this trip: Angola, Nigeria, and Cape Verde. Obama visited a fourth, Ghana (they discovered oil in 2007), a month ago. Right now Nigeria is the 5th largest, and Angola the 6th largest exporters of oil to the United States. Oh, and the US is facing competition from China (who operate by a different, easier, set of rules for foreign investment) for African oil and other resources.
[africasacountry.wordpress.com]
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08/12/09
many props to hillary. lotta respect for her as a person & a politician.
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And as soon as all of the TV stations were running this, the newspapers had to pick it up so they didn't look like they were "covering it up," if that makes sense. In the end, everyone gets screwed because reporters got lazy. Grrr.
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Way to roll with the times Ms Brown.
08/12/09
That being said, one of our least-favorite newspeople, Ann Curry, was on the ball this morning. After the Today show ran the same piece everyone else is running, she made a point of explaining why it's so important that Clinton in the Congo and what life is like there. Curry has spent a lot of time in Darfur, and I have a feeling she would like to be reporting on the Congo as well.
08/12/09
I think it was about a reporter asking STUPID QUESTION.
That said, the newborn PR girl in me would have advised Madame Secretary to say something like, Oh, I'm very proud of my husband -- it's wonderful he can keep serving our wonderful nation even though he is no longer in the Oval Office'. Then I would have her re-direct attention onto the issue at hand, saying -- I'm sure he'd like us to focus on blah blah blah blah today.
Reporters can be very easy to pacify in that way.
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You know of any openings in NYC? Message me? :)
08/12/09
My dad is currently in the Congo doing humanitarian work, and the stuff that he sees and that he tells me is going on is just awful. There are so many great people who live out there and who want/appreciate the help, but things are very corrupt and the Congolese soldiers even turn on each other (in one instance one soldier killed another over a concubine). Many of the non-profits that offer humanitarian aid out there show an extreme lack of leadership, don't train their volunteers well enough and don't prepare them enough for all the secutiry issues that they will face and don't offer any/enough psychological support to the volunteers as well to help them deal with what they see everyday. Meaning that alot of volunteers aren't extending their contracts and many of them are actually terminating their contracts early. It breaks my heart to see the state the Congo is in, especially considering the fact that they are the richest country in AFrica, resource-wise, but are in an extreme state of poverty. :(
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Let's hope the sour taste lingers for a while. Maybe then, people will pay a little more attention to problems other than what the Secretary of State was wearing.
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Perhaps it was a poor choice of wording on my part, but I'm not looking to run these African nations -- I'm looking for a way for us to take our money, knowledge, and influence, and use them to get the Congolese to a place where these things do not have to happen anymore.
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What kind of "hair day" she was having had precious little to do with the problems she was trying to bring to light.
08/12/09
I'm sorry, Maureen and Tina, but you've missed the point entirely: she has a right to be miffed, when her accomplishments as Secretary of State, which are awesome, is overshadowed by her husband's one trip to North Korea. Kudos to Bill, but it's Hillary doing yeoman's work, trying to piece together the shattered remains of America's stature in the world.
08/12/09
08/12/09
But I know it's easier to complain about the failings of "our helpful reporters and pundits" than actually follow an issue.
Sorry. Hit a nerve. But if you just want to follow the "news" as Tina Brown reports it, please don't confuse it with serious journalism.
08/12/09
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