The Obama administration is probably wondering why so many people of all political stripes don't believe that they take foreign policy seriously, up to and including charges that the president and his minions are doing the equivalent of fiddling as some parts of the world burn, and others threaten to.
I don't see why would anyone think that (in case it's not obvious, that's sarcasm). After all, wasn't Bush 43 press secretary Ari Fleischer linking to a friend's column on men's suits after the Bali bombings in 2002? And didn't the London bombings in 2005 lead the otherwise hapless Scott McClellan to wax eloquent on the importance of tie-shirt coordination? The answer to both of those questions is, "Of course not." But yesterday, on a day when Israel invaded Gaza, pro-Russian forces shot down a passenger airliner with almost 300 aboard, and diseases this country hasn't seen in decades continued to be carried over the U.S. Mexican border by "Unaccompanied Alien Children" (that DHS's term), State Department spokesman Jen Psaki tweeted on the dreadfully important topic of how you can be "informed" and fashionable (HT The Blaze):
The piece to which Psaki linked is most noteworthy for its self-important author's inadvertent admission that women's magazines can be and mostly have been co-opted to promoted liberal to far-left causes:
... when the women’s magazine Marie Claire offered me a post as contributing editor, the opportunity felt perfectly timed. After all these decades in the trenches, working women like me are finally having our moment. We are the gender that launched a thousand recent magazine covers, from the “Lean In” movement to “the Confidence Gap,” egg-freezing to mandatory coverage of contraception. Every week, it seems, a new, fresh take on what keeps working women from getting their due and having it all captures the zeitgeist. As someone who’s always believed in the power of mentorship, that it was my duty to pay it forward to other, younger women at the White House, the prospect of helping to shape these incredibly important and germane conversations resonated with me.
... Thankfully, a new generation of young, ambitious women refuses to be hampered by the apparent double standard and rejects the idea that their interest in fashion, beauty and fitness somehow connotes anything beyond just that. I’m thrilled to align myself with a magazine that speaks directly to these women, whether it’s about access to abortion or fall trends. Because if we really want to talk honestly about “having it all,” we need to start by according a woman’s many interests outside the office with the same deference we do a man’s.
That's more than enough blather for me.
Commenters at Psaki's tweet are letting her have it, as they should. Some examples (some minor editing was done for grammar and taste):
"Poor timing. Frightening really. Do you think you're some celebrity?"
"How do Israelis under rocket attack become smart, savvy, and fashionable?"
"The children really have taken over at State. Don't let it interrupt those simultaneous crises tho."
"It's official, our government is run by children. Rome is burning and these a**hole(s) are dancing (fund raising)."
"Are you the one who said that Obama doesn't give himself enough credit for his international policy?"
Actually, she is — and the press laughed at her.
So far, Psaki's tacky tweet is safe with the Associated Press, which has nothing at its national site on Psaki's bubble-brained banter. A Google News search on "Psaki fashion" (not in quotes, sorted by date) indicates that only Fox News and the UK Daily Mail have found the State Department spokesperson's tone-deaf move newsworthy.
MRC's Tim Graham tells me that Megyn Kelly also went after Psaki — and President Obama — on her Fox News show last night:
... what we have tonight is the president at a double fundraiser in New York City and the secretary of state spokesperson on the heels of her boss putting out a statement saying how horrified they are. She tweets something about hold on, here it is from Jen Psaki, "great piece by my former colleague who defines smart savvy and fashionable" and she links to something about being informed and fashionable is natural for women. I'm not saying she shouldn't promote her friend. I'm saying maybe wait until the day after almost 300 people have been murdered.
There isn't a chance in Hades that the establishment press would ignore such a poorly timed exercise in frivolity during a period of high worldwide tension in a conservative or Republican administration. They would be raking that person over the coals, and deservedly so. The double standard could not be more obvious.
Parting shot: "Smart, savvy" Psaki is now a shorthand verb in Russia for "when someone makes a dogmatic statement about something they don’t understand, mixes facts up, and then doesn’t apologize."
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
