What Smart Diplomacy?

Where is the "smart" diplomacy?

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama said theirs would be an administration that gets it right. So far, I'm afraid, it's been anything but. Today's gaffe was just the latest and stupidest example.

GENEVA—Secretary of State Hillary Clinton opened her first extended talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov by giving him a present meant to symbolize the Obama administration’s vow to “press the reset button” on U.S.-Russia relations.

She handed a palm-sized box wrapped with a bow. Lavrov opened it and pulled out the gift: a red button on a black base with a Russian word peregruzka printed on top.

“We worked hard to get the right Russian word. Do you think we got it?” Clinton asked.

“You got it wrong,” Lavrov said.

Instead of "reset," Lavrov said the word on the box meant “overcharge.”

Aren't there any Russian linguists among the progressives in the State Department? Doesn't somebody proof-read this stuff? Most importantly, isn't the gift of a red button kinda stupid anyway?

Add this embarrassment to the $900 million for the Palestinian Authority (which will undoubtedly fall into the hands of Hamas), and the ham-handed attempt to "negotiate" with the Russians by abandoning the eastern European missile shield without even bothering to consult allies like Poland, to try to elicit cooperation from Ivan on influencing the Iranians. That ended badly, as the Russian president simply scoffed at the idea and told us to go jump. So we alienate Poland and other friendly nations, and look like fools, and get nothing in return.

And that's just Hillary's activities for the past week. Let's not forget about Mr. Obama's diss of Great Britain by sending back the Winston Churchhill bust, and then giving Prime Minister Gordon Brown less than a hearty welcome (including a stupid gift of American movie DVDs that probably won't be usable in Great Britain).

Classless and clueless. Most definitely not smart.