Is the White House keeping Clinton off Sunday TV?

Thu, 05/07/2009 - 11:22am

Hillary Clinton, April 17, 2008 

My colleague Laura Rozen over at The Cable posted a quote from a "plugged-in Washington Middle East hand" saying that the White House won't let Secretary Clinton on Sunday morning talk shows. Referring to Clinton and White House senior advisor David Axelrod, the post reads:

"The White House won't let her on TV on the Sunday morning talk shows," a plugged-in Washington Middle East hand observed. "Who is talking about foreign policy on those shows? Axelrod. Who is showing up at the meeting with Obama-Peres? Axelrod. They are controlling the message."

"They've never even had her even on Charlie Rose," he added. "You have not really seen the secretary of state in the U.S. media; you've seen her in the international media. Who is their main messenger on foreign policy?"

(An aide confirmed Clinton hadn't been on the Sunday talk shows since the campaign.)

An update to the post says:

White House and State Department officials wrote to strongly dispute that Clinton was being kept off the Sunday news talk shows. A White House official said Clinton is an "absolutely critical voice" in the effort to develop and communicate the administration's foreign policy.

The "plugged-in Middle East hand" also noted that the Obama administration did not send Clinton to the AIPAC conference. Instead Vice President Joseph Biden was sent. Steve Cohen, president of the Institute for Middle East Peace and Development, said:

"Biden is the person who is perceived as a very experienced foreign-policy hand who has a very solid relationship with Israel, but that relationship is solidly based on American strategic analysis," Cohen said. "And not affected so much by the Clinton experience of being a [former] New York senator."

(In the photo at top, Clinton, then a Democratic presidential hopeful, performs a comedy sketch with U.S. television personality Stephen Colbert during the taping of his comedy show The Colbert Report in Philadelphia on April 17, 2008.)

Photo: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

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I was wondering about this!

by stacyx on Thu, 05/07/2009 - 7:15pm

Thank you! I was wondering if I had missed something because every Sunday I religiously check all the networks and their upcoming guests and I never see Hillary's name and have been wondering why, particularly given she does such a great job delivering the foreign policy message.

Do you think some in the WH are worried she might do *too* good a job and upstage Obama, particularly given her high approval ratings?

Hadn't been aware of this...

by Carolyn-Rodham on Thu, 05/07/2009 - 10:58pm

...mostly because I never watch the Sunday news shows anymore, except McLaughlin. They're not what they used to be. But if Obama thinks Axelrod -- or worse, Biden -- does a better job than Hillary delivering his foreign policy message, then he's not as smart as I thought he was.

Virtually the only story about Hillary that the US media HAS seen fit to cover is her "bawling" while eulogizing the young State Department aide killed in Ethiopia.

And you'll notice today was

by anne on Fri, 05/08/2009 - 12:07am

And you'll notice today was only the 2nd time the Piece of S--t NYT put HRC on the cover, they will do anything to pretend she doesn't exist. disgusting.

In case they hadn't noticed...

by Carolyn-Rodham on Fri, 05/08/2009 - 12:15pm

The media efforts to marginalize Hillary and lionize Obama have really hurt her approval ratings and boosted his. NOT.

Obama is...

by anne on Fri, 05/08/2009 - 12:18am

Obama is a c-ck s----r, plain and simple. He's axelrod's little puppet and they can both rot. Just saying.

amen!

by Kik17 on Fri, 05/08/2009 - 3:48am

I am so with you on that!

OTOH

by Still4Hill on Fri, 05/08/2009 - 9:44am

For one thing, she has been abroad on many Sundays, and on the Sundays that she IS in the country, she does try to get home. So I understand how.why she might not want to be hanging around DC on a weekend.

For example, this weekend I hope she gets home to celebrate Mothers' Day with her family.

That said, not Axelrod, not Biden, not The Obama Himself can effect what Hillary pulled off this week, and I DARE anyone to give credit to ANYbody else: That signing between Zardari and Karzai was the DIRECT result of Hillary's own past contacts with these two leaders as she cited in her statement that day. Not one of the men I mentioned above can cite a history like that with them.

They definitely know how powerful she is, and I DO think there is a conspiracy to keep her off the MSM. They cut her out of shots, but I still can see her sleeve - and I know it's her sleeve because SoS sits beside POTUS AND I know what she wore that day from photos.

For my money, she should have her free weekends, but for pity sake, let us see what she is doing all week long! The woman is a dynamo! Let's see on TV what some of us are finding on the internet!

Worth Watching..

by Karenmb on Fri, 05/08/2009 - 4:49pm

I find this article interesting, especially in light of other recent articles suggesting Jones and Summers have something up their sleeves going on behind HRC's back. Let's hope it's all just journalists trying to up the ratings ante.

Something else I've noticed with regard to our special envoys, Holbrooke & Mitchell. BO uses phrasing when speaking of these gentlemen as if it was his idea to assign them. It was clearly Hillary's suggestion, but he's not about to say, at the urging of my SOS.....He's taking all the credit..hmmmmmm.

Us HRC supporters are keeping our eyes and ears open...

Yes, I noticed that about

by Still4Hill on Sun, 05/10/2009 - 6:53pm

Yes, I noticed that about Holbrooke and Mitchell also. I don't think Obama even knew who they were. They were Hillary's idea.

I haven't heard anything about Summers and Jones, but nothing from Summers would surprise me. He is disgusting.