Happy Independence Day to all Americans reading this blog! Madam Secretary won't have posts Friday, July 3, but will resume Monday, July 6. Have a fun weekend, everybody!

Photo: STEPHEN JAFFE/AFP/Getty Images

Unfortunately, due to her broken elbow, Secretary Clinton won't be traveling to Russia next week with President Obama. Last week she was unable to go to Greece and Italy as planned. Her late-July trip to India still seems to be in place, though.

This fractured elbow must be quite painful -- and more serious than originally thought. On the day after Clinton's fall, Assistant Secretary of State Philip Crowley told reporters, "[M]y impression is it was a fairly simple, straightforward fracture."

On Tuesday, however, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters, "She had a very serious break in her elbow. … She's energetic, she's fully engaged, but we need to make sure that she heals and then can get back to a full schedule where she can come in every day."

Since her June 17 fall, Clinton has worked from home a lot and has had six days with no public appointments on her schedule. Yesterday, though, was an exception. Shaking with her left hand, she met with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, as seen above. Additionally, at yesterday's swearing-in ceremony for U.S. ambassador to Ireland, Daniel Rooney (owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers), she joked, "I came off the injured reserve list in order to officiate at this ceremony."

Please send healing thoughts in the direction of Clinton's right elbow!

Photo: TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images

There are 597 hits on Nexis for articles in the past week with the words "Clinton" and "Sanford." Since South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford revealed his infidelity one week ago, the press has been going wild with articles about how women respond when their high-profile husbands are unfaithful. Comparisons between Sanford's wife Jenny and Secretary Clinton abound.

I wonder if Clinton is having painful flashbacks to the Monica Lewinsky affair and all the other times her husband's infidelity received media attention. She's one tough woman to have weathered it all.

A sampling of what's being said around the world (in English-language media at least).

Toronto Star columnist Rosie DiManno:

If Hillary Clinton had an ounce of pride, when confronted by the serial infidelity of her husband, President Bill, she would have stood on the steps of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and declared: "By the way, I'm keeping the House."

Late-night comedian Jimmy Fallon:

There's another new development in that Mark Sanford story. His wife, Jenny, kicked him out of their home when she heard about the affair. In response, Hillary Clinton said, "Wait, you can do that?"

Joan Walsh at Salon.com:

[Jenny] Sanford is a talented political operative in her own right, running her husband's campaigns. Maybe she needs to take a page from Hillary Clinton and stop subordinating her own ambition to his.

Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus:

[S]pace does not permit me to plumb the depths of spouse-enabling, self-deception and ambition embedded in the examples of Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Edwards, except to say that the latest about John Edwards makes Bill Clinton look like the perfect gentleman.

Andrew Davis, former communications director of the Libertarian Party, writing in The State (Columbia, S.C.):

Comparing between the first lady of South Carolina and former First Lady Hillary Clinton shows a stark contrast of two women snared in similar situations, who reacted in remarkably different ways. Clinton stood by her husband throughout the entire scandal, and even went so far as to defend him as a victim of a "vast, right-wing conspiracy." Jenny offered no excuses or defense for Mark's behavior.

Clinton's great success as a woman in politics has overshadowed shortcomings in her personal life, and turned her into a symbol of feminist power and prestige. However, feminists would do well to look at Jenny as an unsung role model for women in the movement.

Singapore's Straits Times (subscription only):

As he sought office in the 1992 presidential election, Mrs Clinton laid down a code of conduct of sorts for the wronged political wife, as she tackled questions of his alleged extramarital affair.

'You know, I'm not sitting here like some little woman standing by my man,' she said in a joint TV interview.

'I'm sitting here because I love him, and I respect him, and I honour what he's been through and what we've been through together. And you know, if that's not enough for people, then heck, don't vote for him.'

Mr Clinton went on to win two presidential terms, only to find himself in disgrace and later impeached over a sexual liaison with a White House intern which started in 1995.

Mrs Clinton, a law graduate like her husband, still stuck by him, invoking the need to keep the family intact for the sake of their daughter. Cynics thought she did not want to upset the apple cart in view of her own political ambitions. If that was the reason, the gambit has paid off. With her job approval ratings rising higher than President Barack Obama's, Mrs Clinton has become an influential public persona in her own right.

If Secretary Clinton had been president, the United States would have been talking tough about Iran at least two days earlier.

Clinton -- known for laying the smack down verbally -- spent two whole days urging President Obama to talk tough on Iran before he finally did, reports the Washington Times. And then when he did condemn the violence, he did so without telling her first, making it look like the State Department was "out of sync" with the White House.

According to the article, Clinton originally agreed that the U.S. response should be somewhat restrained to avoid creating the impression that the United States was meddling in Iran's internal affairs -- and because the U.S. government would most likely end up having to deal with Ahmadinejad later on regarding nuclear weapons.

But after 26-year-old Neda Agha-Soltan was shot on a Tehran street on June 20, Clinton decided it was time for tough talk (a position you all supported in last week's poll). She spent two days urging Obama to speak out, but he resisted. Then on June 23, without informing her first, he announced, "I strongly condemn these unjust actions."

Of course Obama is the president and doesn't need Clinton's permission to speak, but as the Washington Times article states, his tough words made the State Department look "out of sync" with the White House. Until an hour before Obama's news conference, the State Department was still speaking in restrained terms (saying it was "deeply concerned," etc.)

Maybe Obama will listen to Clinton's foreign-policy advice more carefully next time -- or at least give her a heads-up about any unexpected moves.

Photo: KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images

At her press briefing yesterday, Secretary Clinton thanked everyone who has sent her get-well flowers, and she joked, "I'm engaged in a different form of arms control, I think. Quite challenging."

Here's what her arm looked like as of yesterday:

Above, Clinton speaks with Denis McDonough, deputy national security advisor for strategic communications.

Above, Clinton listens as President Obama meets with Colombian President Álvaro Uribe.

Above, a close-up of the sling, which appears to be this product from Corflex.

Photos, top to bottom: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images, SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images, Alex Wong/Getty Images