Comeback

More to post in the next day or two, including some photos of Bolivar Peninsula (starting to look good down there). But this article is humorous for its assembly of jabs, some light-hearted, at the Secretary of State.

Those of you who read here regularly would already know that I was not a supporter of Mrs. Clinton's candidacy (and was lukewarm of Obama's, right up to the Texas primary in March). But I think she's a perfect SoS -- perfect for Obama, perfect for the country. Apparently some would say it's been a rough time lately for her:

And Hillary Clinton thought she was having a bad day when she broke her elbow ...

Today, a meeting of Asian leaders in Thailand turned into the set of "Mean Girls": North Korea called the Secretary of State a "funny lady" who "looks like a primary schoolgirl and sometimes a pensioner going shopping." Ouch. To be fair, Clinton stirred it up earlier this week when she compared North Korea to "unruly teenagers."

For the Secretary of State, this latest scrap must feel like the cherry on top of a big fat banana peel of a month.

This is Clinton's first trip abroad since she fell and broke her elbow in the White House basement last month. (Does the White House offer workman's comp?) Clinton's duties, naturally, were curtailed somewhat during her recuperation, but political pundits quickly jumped on the fact that while she was laid up, President Obama was gallivanting around the globe sans his Secretary of State.

Fox News asked whether it was a broken elbow or "sinister forces at work" to sideline the Secretary of State. Tina Brown at The Daily Beast blogged that it was "time for Barack Obama to let Hillary Clinton take off her burqa," while the New York Daily News dubbed her plight "The curious case of the steadily shrinking Hillary Clinton." Foreign Policy website noted that Obama has been to several countries without her.

So while Clinton was recuperating from surgery on her broken elbow and handling her job as best as she could from home, she has also had to defend her boss and reassure everyone that, yes, she is, in fact, happy with her job.

Clinton responded to the rumors, speculation and analysis with a quippy "I broke my elbow, not my larynx." ...

More of this if you like. Strikes me as a tempest in a teapot.