PUT HER ON A MILK CARTON –  AT 9:34 A.M. ET:  Nile Gardiner, one of the most astute of the British America watchers, asks a pertinent question this morning:  Has anyone heard from Hillary Clinton?  Does she have a summer address or something?   Gardiner is particularly outraged by Clinton's silence on the massacres in Syria, which, according to the latest reports, may have taken as many as 140 lives just yesterday: 

But where was the US Secretary of State, the official voice of American foreign policy, in responding to one of the most sickening acts of barbarism conducted against civilians by any regime in the 21st Century? Hillary Clinton has been a striking no-show on one of the most important days of her time in office. There has been no statement yet from Mrs. Clinton in stark contrast to many other international leaders. Nor has the State Department even posted a statement from any of its officials regarding the Syrian atrocity on its website. Contrast this for example with the prominent feature on the Syrian violence at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

There is though, prominently featured on the State Department homepage at time of writing, a story about Black Eyed Peas musician will.i.am directing a concert in Beijing later this year.

I can't wait for the classical music. 

This is appalling for a vast government department that employs nearly 20,000 people, and is yet another example of a serious failure of US leadership. Hillary Clinton has all too often been an invisible Secretary of State and a symbol of the Obama administration’s “leading from behind” approach. When America fails to lead, the world is a far more dangerous place, and on both Syria and Iran, Washington has been extremely slow to stand up to the brutal suppression of political dissidents. Clinton’s deafening silence in the face of a savage massacre is a damning indictment of her time as Secretary of State. She needs to dramatically step up her game if she is at all serious about projecting the kind of international leadership that is worthy of a superpower.

Clinton is more capable than Obama, and I thought she would do better as secretary of state.  She says she wants to leave after Obama's first term (which we hope will be his final term) and I suspect she'll return to her left-wing sixties roots, maybe as president of some trendy college or head of some equally trendy foundation. 

The president did issue a statement yesterday saying that he was appalled at the violence in Syria.  That's nice.  I'm sure it will encourage the dissidents.  There does not appear anything that the West is willing to do about the situation, and many, many more will die. 

Meanwhile, the world's "peace activists" are concerned only with condemning the United States, Israel, and anyone in Europe who dares to question reckless and irresponsible immigration policies.

August 1, 2011