Ben Smith observes that he and a number of other journalists, apparently basing their reports on pre-speech spin and/or a few excerpts that had been released, had written that Hillary Clinton’s speech yesterday would be “muscular”. Smith writes today that’s not quite the speech she delivered:
the early spin gave, at best, a very partial and misleading sense of what Clinton actually said yesterday. The most “muscular” portions were the carefully-drafted signals to Iran and Saudi Arabia, which represent the White House’s formal stance, not Clinton’s personal vision. The more personal elements of the speech — the ones that actually carry some meaning for her stature and role as Secretary of State — were in the realm of what used to be called “soft power,” and is now called “smart power.” Clinton’s campaign aides shied away from an excessive focus on issues like women’s rights and development because they ran counter to her hawkish profile, and her current imagemakers seem to have the same goal. But many analysts see her new Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, with its new seriousness about the civilian side of missions to, first of all, Afghanistan, as the most important part of her tenure. These aren’t gimmicky or marginal — Secretary Gates is among Clinton’s key allies in boosting State’s role there. But they’re not muscle-flexing activities, and so their central place in Clinton’s speech — and her vision for the office — seems to have gotten short shrift.
