SoS Clinton publicly emphasized her hard work at getting a cutesy photo-op gimmick right. Alas, her Russian counterpart was forced to point out that her efforts were for naught. And for her wayward efforts, the Russian media is now teasing her (h/t: Drudge).
The lesser mistake in the whole event is merely symbolic. Given the symbolism of her boss' botched oath of office and his subsequent tail-spin, however, we are loathe to ignore such signs! This was, to say the least, another ominous beginning. Nevertheless, even more telling is Clinton's response to being informed of the meaning of the word "peregruzka", which means "overcharged". To this news, she immediately exclaimed: "Well, we won't let you do that to us!"
Most interesting is Clinton's defensive default position. The Russian is the bad guy; he's the one who would overcharge. Clinton is the would-be victim, except that she assures the Russian that she won't let him "do that to us".
Ironically, the flawed label on the reset button accidentally points to a truly flawed reset in US-Russian relations. SoS Clinton's off-the-cuff response indicates that the only change in her attitude is a reversion back to a pre-1989 outlook. Not exactly the change we had come to believe in.
For blundering her way into revealing that her cute words and toys are just a sham cover for a hostile attitude, we are happy to name SoS Clinton as the second recipient of the Swifty Award.
UPDATE: the first Swifty was awarded for intentional self-mockery as opposed to the common, unintentional self-mockery that is so pervasive among politicians and talking-heads. In this case, though SoS Clinton's revelation was certainly unintentional, the double blunder of ironic mistake leading to a self-outing is just too good to go unrecognized.
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