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More ‘Gift Gaffes’

On top of the major faux pas in gifting promulgated by the Obamas during the visit of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown comes the story of the ridiculous mistake that Secretary of State Hillary “the linguist” Clinton made with her gift to Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov.

The “gift” was supposed to be a funny one, but it was a misfire because it seems that Clinton couldn’t find anyone in the employ of the State Department that had a grasp of the Russian language. The U.S. media has not made too big a deal about this one but the Russian and British media has been playing this one to the hilt. It’s being called the “Button Gaffe” and it certainly is making our Sec. of State look stupid to the world.

At their meeting in Geneva last week, Clinton gave Lavrov what was supposed to be a “re-set button” telling the Russian people that we were “re-setting” our relationship. Unfortunately for our expert at foreign relations, the word on the button’s casing did not say “re-set” in Russian. It said “overcharged” or “overload.” So, if the Russian Minister were to push that button we’d be “overloading” our relations. NOT the message that we wanted to send, was it?

Now, it’s all well and good to have some fun with this idiot gaffe by Clinton’s State Department. Believe me, I am no fan of Foggy Bottom no matter who sits in the Oval Office. But this incident also shows another aspect of this uncivil administration.

Obama is not moving forward into his bright new future. He is wallowing still in what he thinks are the evil Bush years. Neither he nor anyone else in his administration spare the least bit of effort to forget about the last president. At every opportunity you can find them digging at Bush. This still born “re-set button” idea was just another aspect of that.

What are we supposed to be “re-setting,” anyway? What else but the presumed “failed” policies of the Bush administration. But what “failed” Russian policies could Obama and Clinton be talking about? After all, Bush rarely crossed Putin, saying he thought he was a man that he could deal with, that he “looked into his soul.” One of the only times Bush crossed Putin was when the Russians invaded the country of Georgia without justification. We stood with the beleaguered Georgians and for good reason. That made Putin mad.

So, what are we saying with this “re-set button”? Are we saying that from now on we will let Russia invade any nearby country that it wants to?

This gaffe means far more than the linguistic stupidity of Clinton’s State Dept. It is also shows the failure of the coming Obama foreign policy.

Along with the epic fail that was her “gift” we are also seeing the emergence of the epic fail of her foreign policy efforts.

(Photo credit: news.bbc.co.uk)

COMMENTS

  • http://www.phxgonline.com phxg

    having been in the limelight as First Lady would have either enough contacts or authority of her office to reach out to someone with this type of knowledge.

    I mean come on; Obama gives PM Brown something that can be bought on Amazon by anyone and Hillary makes what is arguably a major faux paux in international relationship building.

    And people gave Bush a ration of crap for his funny language peculiarities. At least he was smart enough to not make these minor mistakes.

  • 6eorge Jetson

    A policy shaped mainly by the desire to scapegoat Bush.
    that when implemented fails immediately.

  • Rod_Patrick

    At least, Hillary didn’t press a wrong button of the Russian.

    Plus, Hillary successfully guided the Russian Foreign Secretary on the button she was asking him to press on.

    Despite the wrong Russian word, these top diplomats were able to HIT THE BUTTON AT THE SAME TIME.

    ….it’s really an overwhelming success.

  • Wing_Zero

    Concidering that Russia is the place many of these people grew up wanting to defect to. I though Hillary would speak fluent “Comradese”

    Are there not enough retired Russian Linguists in the military not to have screwed this up?

    Oh wait… these are the people that loath the military.

  • Praying

    Sure makes you miss the class act of the Bush administration.

  • pithnvinegar

    that President Obama put VP Biden in charge of the gift giviing, given his vast expertise in foreign relations?
    I can picture him walking the aisles at Home Depot, with Hillary’s reset button already in the cart, and it occurs to him, “I bet that Brit fella gets bored on the return flight, just like I used to on those Amtrak rides home to Delaware every night. What he needs are some good movies to relax with . . . yeah, that’ll do it!” and he rushes the cart to the self-check lane so he can drop by Hollywood Video and get home in time for re-runs of “West Wing”.

  • pithnvinegar

    that President Obama put VP Biden in charge of the gift giving, given his vast expertise in foreign relations?
    I can picture him walking the aisles at Home Depot, with Hillary’s reset button already in the cart, and it occurs to him, “I bet that Brit fella gets bored on the return flight, just like I used to on those Amtrak rides home to Delaware every night. What he needs are some good movies to relax with . . . yeah, that’ll do it!” and he rushes the cart to the self-check lane so he can drop by Hollywood Video and get home in time for re-runs of “West Wing”.

  • larryp

    and the two dips are sound asleep..No President, no SOS.
    ZZZZZZZ….Honestly, what an embarrassment. It is foreign policy as ascript from the “Wonder Years”..”Winnie can we talk..?”

  • USNJIMRET

    Even with the eight long years of constant bashing from just about everyone, I don’t recall anything like this having been reported in the Bush hating DBM!
    As has been noted, here and elsewhere, the Obama Administration is chock full of former Clinton people, hold over Bush people, Career civil servants. There’s even an Office of Protocol, or something like that, within the White House which, one presumes, is charged with knowing the sniggling little details of how/what the International ‘right thing to do’ constitutes.
    And I’m pretty damn sure that a ‘gift’ of DVDs isn’t on the list, anywhere, for any occasion!!
    As for the Hillary screw up, I don’t feel sorry for whatever idiot made that goof. Tho I suspect that it’s going to be some incredibly low level staffer who loses his/her job over it. NOT the fool who said, “Yeah, that’s a good idea”.
    And I mean the whole ‘reset’ idea, not just the wrong word on the device.

    • furious

      …Obama-loving DBM, either. At least the DBM are paritially consistent.

  • furious

    …they can’t suck-up and grovel without bumbling. At least Hillary’s predecessor at State was fluent in written/spoken Russian.

    And, compounding the dis-respect to the British Prime Minister, not only are the DVDs a tacky gift, but Gordon Brown is visually impaired in both eyes.

    Is there anyTHiNG or anyONE this administration can properly vet? Can’t blame his predecessor, BO owns these.

  • Laura

    Just in case she wants to try this again…perhaps best to write in Russian using the alphabet they actually use…. I believe the spelling for “reset” would be:

    ????za??????

    And for future reference, it may be useful to learn this one:

    ? ???????? ??? ?????. ? ?????????.

    (That would be, “I feel like an idiot. I apologize.”)

    • Laura

      Looks like RedState text boxes are not any more fond of the Cyrillic alphabet than is the Obama administration. I sure miss that “review post” button!

    • Wing_Zero

      Russian Linguest?

      Or did you take it in college?

  • Tbone

    goes up on blocks in the Rose Garden.

  • itrytobenice

    If Clinton had not been so busy trying to figure out a way to slam or embarrass Pres. Bush, she might have concentrated on getting her compatriots an appropriate gift. And then her foot would not have been so fully consumed by her oral cavity.

    Serves her right for being a B*&^%.