United State’s archenemy Bin Ladin is finally captured and killed. Unfortunately even this unexpectedly good news did not stop media from undermining one of the most powerful women in America; Hilary Clinton.
Dead silence of the media about her role in the decision making, planning and implementation of the raid to capture Bin Ladin as the Secretary of State is appalling. On top of it, only coverage that mentions Mrs.Clinton’s involvement on the Bin Ladin’s fall is about her reaction while watching the operation in the White House situation room with the President and other officials.
In a recent photo released by the White House, Secretary of State happened to have her hand on her mouth while watching the commando operation and the news article in Reuters has the explanation for it; she had allergies. The article claims this was her answer when asked about the photo.
I am not sure if I am more offended by the news asking her why she was covering her mouth or her answer to try to conceal her most natural reaction as a human being watching a video where people were probably about to get killed.
Never mind that all the other people who happened to be men –there was one other woman- have similar expressions on their faces, we should ask why Mrs. Clinton was singled out as the only one should explain her body language? And why showing concern and “anguish,” as Barry Moody of Reuters puts it, is a problem or oddity? Any normal human being would show similar reaction to watching such a critical operation, especially when it was about your country’s national security and the stakes of failure were enormous.
Expressing humanity does not make one weak, fearful or incompetent, and these qualities do not belong to only women. I am not sure if Secretary of State, knowing the sexist undertones of our politics and culture still pervading, was trying to look tough or simply telling the truth, but I will go with her being honest. I am more concerned about the amount of –or little of it- media coverage that gives her the credit for the decision to go after Bin Ladin.
After 10 long years, billions of dollars, countless sacrifices and thousands of deaths, we finally got the man who was considered one of the most dangerous criminal masterminds of our times, and the only news Reuters cover about our –female- Secretary of State is why did she cover her mouth? No one praises the woman for her involvement in the planning of this operation, no one asks her the details of her responsibilities during the execution of the plan, but the only question asked was; why did she cover her mouth?
I will do what the entire news media failed to do for our Secretary of State who is one staffer has proven herself many times over; I will give her the credit she aptly deserves. Thank you madam Secretary! Thank you for your hard work on bringing this man to justice and offering some closure and comfort to our country’s people and to the families of the victims of 9/11 tragedy. Thank you for your service to our country, a job well done!
*This article has been published by The New Agenda and The Pragmatic Progressive 05.07.2011
1 comment:
BRAVO! Amazing silence in the media about this, with the exception of criticism for our Secretary of State, who happens to be a woman. Thank you for giving credit where it is due once again.
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