Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is welcomed by Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula and American ambassador to Kenya, Michael Rannerger, right, at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2009.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Kenya today, the start of a 12-day tour of the continent. But it was her husband, former President Bill Clinton who was getting all the headlines for his visit to North Korea where he won the release of two U.S. journalists who had been held for months.
In any event, today was one of those rare days we suspected we would see when the former first lady agreed to be secretary of state. There was her husband, the ex-president, in Asia sitting across from Korean strong man Kim Jong-Il and gaining the release of Euna Lee and Laura Ling.
And there was the secretary of state in Africa preparing to meet with leaders across the that continent. As NPR's Gwen Thompkins reported on "All Things Considered" tonight, the secretary of state is scheduled to meet Wednesday with the leaders of Kenya's hostile political factions, President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga who are in a power-sharing arrangement.
Way back when President Clinton first ran for the White House in 1992, he joked about the American people getting two — him and his wife — for the price of one. Perhaps we're still getting two for the price of one, this time meaning diplomacy on two continents.
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