Tongue tied in Brussels (Wizbang)

I thought the Obama administration is going to improve relations in Europe. From Reuters-

Hillary Clinton raised eyebrows on her first visit to Europe as secretary of state when she mispronounced her EU counterparts' names and claimed U.S. democracy was older than Europe's.
Clinton has set herself a grueling pace on visits to Egypt, Israel and Brussels soon after touring the Far East, attending dozens of meetings and giving speech after speech, with little time worked into her schedule for sleep.

Here we go again, Hillary is sleep deprived. Where did we hear that before? Wasn't she the one the American people would want when the phone rang at 3 a.m. in the morning? Not if she talks like this in Europe.

A veteran politician, Clinton compared the complex European political environment to that of the two-party U.S. system, before adding:

"I have never understood multiparty democracy.

"It is hard enough with two parties to come to any resolution, and I say this very respectfully, because I feel the same way about our own democracy, which has been around a lot longer than European democracy."

The remark provoked much headshaking in the parliament of a bloc that likes to trace back its democratic tradition thousands of years to the days of classical Greece.

One working lunch later with EU leaders, Clinton raised more eyebrows when she referred to EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who stood beside her, as "High Representative Solano."

She also dubbed European Commission External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner as "Benito."

I mix up names too but I'm not Secretary of State. Nor should I ever hold that position even if I was the only choice a President had.

From the start I thought Hillary's appointment to be Secretary of State was a head scratcher and not for partisan reasons for things like the Bosnia sniper silliness. What were her qualifications for this job?

Comments (7)

Well I dont think Hillary w... (Below threshold)

1. Posted by retired military | March 6, 2009 4:24 PM | Score: 4 (4 votes cast)

retired military:

Well I dont think Hillary will be there much longer. I think Obama is going to offer her a SCOTUS position when one opens up.

Posted on March 6, 2009 16:24

I agree. I would be better... (Below threshold)

2. Posted by DaveD | March 6, 2009 4:33 PM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)

DaveD:

I agree. I would be better if they could hold these meetings at 3am for her benefit.

Posted on March 6, 2009 16:33

Hey, give her a break, its ... (Below threshold)

3. Posted by joh | March 6, 2009 4:40 PM | Score: 4 (4 votes cast)

joh:

Hey, give her a break, its not like her job requires diplomacy or anything. Geez.

Posted on March 6, 2009 16:40

This has to be the most lau... (Below threshold)

4. Posted by epador | March 6, 2009 5:22 PM | Score: 5 (5 votes cast)

epador:

This has to be the most laughable incompetent administration ever - its already eclipsing Jimmy Carter's and the Cherry Blossoms haven't even opened yet. This is what happens when you have a Harvard Law grad community organizer with NO international experience in charge of picking his administration.

Posted on March 6, 2009 17:22

These folks are getting bet... (Below threshold)

5. Posted by GarandFan | March 6, 2009 6:19 PM | Score: 5 (5 votes cast)

GarandFan:

These folks are getting better and better at screwing up. The one's hailed as being sooooo much more capable then that "cowboy" Bush.

Yep, got a real classy group here. I hear there's a shortage of clowns in Britain. Maybe we can send some of Barry's people over there.

Posted on March 6, 2009 18:19

What Qualifications? The s... (Below threshold)

6. Posted by lagtime | March 6, 2009 7:54 PM | Score: 6 (6 votes cast)

lagtime:

What Qualifications? The same amount of qualification that any objective observor would put to the man who now sits in the White House? But we know that he was not elected because of those qualifications.

Posted on March 6, 2009 19:54

Hilarious about the EU clai... (Below threshold)

7. Posted by daveinboca | March 6, 2009 11:40 PM | Score: 4 (4 votes cast)

daveinboca:

Hilarious about the EU claiming democracy back to Greece! There was that 2200 year hiatus between Pericles and whenever you want to say The First Republic in France started, unless you include micro-states or Switzerland [1215], a country FAR TOO SMART to align itself with the clowns in Strasbourg/Brussels who are really an arm of bureaucratic authoritarianism.

The delusional EU is rotting from its elites downward.....

Posted on March 6, 2009 23:40