"My Husband is Not Secretary of State, I Am."

Hillary Clinton bats down question directed at Bill Clinton in the Congo.

At an event on Monday in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a young man asked Hillary Clinton what "Mr. Clinton" thought about a potential loan from China to the financially strapped country. She paused, amazed, and replied: "You want me to tell you what my husband thinks? My husband is not secretary of state, I am. If you want my opinion, I will tell you my opinion. I am not going to be channeling my husband.''

My first thought upon seeing the clip of the exchange was, of course, good for you, Mrs. Clinton. As Jezebel pointed out, part of the reason she's visiting the country is to address the rape epidemic that's not unrelated to the country's systemic misogyny. And while her answer might not have been diplomatic in the strictest definition of the word, anything a bit more tactful would've given the impression that she's willing to look ever so slightly the other way at those values so at odds with what she's working for.

But my second thought was: that poor guy. Yes, his question was appallingly condescending. But I also get the feeling that just maybe Hillary's been waiting for someone to be that baldly patriarchal so she could swat him down with righteous rage. I imagine she's been hearing more subtle, cloaked versions of the "But what does Bill think about the issue?" question for just about as long as they've been married. She's probably wanted to answer all of them with the bluntness she displayed there, but it's much harder to do when the question is asked in a roundabout way. So the Congolese questioner got to be the stand-in for every guy (or woman) at a Washington cocktail party or Little Rock fundraiser who made her feel like an appendage.

All of which brings me back to Anne's criticism of Bob Herbert's "America is saturated with misogyny" column. As she points out, any "soft" sexism or glass ceilings we might notice here are negligible compared to hard crimes and institutional barriers elsewhere. Sure. And yes, we have our third female secretary of state currently serving. But the sharpness with which Madame Secretary answered that question on Monday demonstrated that its impossible (and maybe not desirable) to completely divorce our relatively harmless version of homegrown misogyny from the "real" kind elsewhere.

Photograph of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by Louise Redvers/AFP/Getty Images.

Tags: Anne Applebaum, bob herbert, congo, Hillary Clinton, misogyny, Rape, sexism

Noreen Malone is DoubleX's copy editor. She is a native of Cleveland and a graduate of Georgetown University.

Comments

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So depressing.

By: llwillis | Tue, 08/11/2009 - 19:00

To have that moment replayed and critiqued, when she answered an insulting question that, it turns out, wasn't asked. Bad enough trying to be your own person when your husband is the former President of the United States, and carries his own spotlight around with him.

Lost in translation?

By: LRboston556 | Tue, 08/11/2009 - 10:28

I'm glad that she replied that way but unfortunately it seems that the question got lost in translation. The audience member actually asked what Obama thought, not Mr. Clinton, but the translator mispoke: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/10/clinton.translation/index.html
Of course it doesn't change the fact that Hillary reacted just as she should have with the info she had. I'm sure that she's been anticipating getting questions like that and is on the defensive.

Its about time

By: misslkodell | Tue, 08/11/2009 - 09:26

You can only take so much of the soft version of what does Mr. think. I think she handed the question well, she is not Bill and she is the one with all the power when it comes to being a representative for the U.S. so if the men of Congo don't like it, too bad they have to deal with a woman and she won't hesitate to make that clear. It actually makes me think of something a woman of my generation might say, not my mother's (and Hillary's) would, because we grew up with the knowledge and the ideas out there that we are just as good as men and we deserve to be treated as equals, not the subtle brush offs and put downs of the women who fought for our equality

Hell ya Hills!

By: lightening | Tue, 08/11/2009 - 09:18

Ha ha. Good for her.

No misogyny is OK

By: LisaH | Tue, 08/11/2009 - 08:51

A popular theme I heard after Bill's trip to North Korea was that Hillary had "probably been negotiating that for months then Bill steps in and saves the day." Yeah, that comment isn't remotely the same as a woman being violently assaulted. But it's still damaging to women. The assumption is that she was powerless and needed the big strong man to step in and pick up her pieces. Did people suggesting this consider that this was her plan all along, and she sent in Bill as the rook for checkmate?
Yes, women in the US have more equality than in some parts of the world. But we're hardly at the point where everything's done, all problems solved.