Hillary's Fatal Flaw is Exposed

In the world of diplomacy, it is essential that the entire "corp" of diplomats keep their cool under fire.

Earlier this week, our Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton -- the U.S.' top diplomat ---lost it when she was asked an improperly translated question by a Congolese college student (Click to See Full Story: "Clinton loses her temper in Congo").

It is apparent that this student had hit a raw nerve as exhibited by her explosive response to a simple question that she "thought" was about Bill Clinton. A nerve that had been apparently laid bare by the years of being in the shadow of of Bill Clinton. When you really think about it, Hillary, just before this blowup, was upstaged by Bill, again, with his rescue of the two journalists that were being held captive by the North Koreans. In many ways, that should have been Hillary's job to do. But, instead, Bill got the glory.

I think, too, Hillary is being frustrated by feeling like she's on a treadmill of busy work. It just seems like she's being excluded from the heavy lifting by just sending her on "tours" to places like the Congo. Obama has, time and time, again, handed the "hot spot" diplomacy jobs to people like Bill Clinton and to special envoys like Richard Holbrooke in Pakistan; to Farah Pandith as the State Department’s new Special Envoy to Muslim Communities; and to George Mitchell, the Special Envoy to the Middle East.

The problem with Hillary's outburst is that she has now weakened her ability to be an effective diplomat. Some foreign diplomats, especially those of our enemies, could actually take advantage of this apparent flaw and exploit it in order to gain the upper hand in negotiations. It's like playing poker. Once everybody is able to see through your poker-face, you are no longer able to bluff and win consistently. Literally, Hillary has lost her poker-face.

I personally don't expect Hillary to remain in her job very much longer. This outburst may have actually signaled that fact. When she blew up, she exhibited one of the typical "disgruntled employee" characteristics that I have seen so many times in my past role of being a manager in business. In the world of business, it would be time for a boss to sit down with the employee to try and get to the heart of their anger and, in doing so, try and come up with some resolution that would avoid losing that employee. But, Obama has no management skills to really speak of and he probably doesn't even recognize her frustration. Then, too, he might not even care if he did recognize it.

It could be that we are actually seeing the "start" of a new Hillary campaign to be the next Governor of New York. Who knows? But, that would be my guess for her next political move. Only time will tell.