In August 2006, at the same time I was flying from Jakarta to Makassar in Indonesia, my mother was undergoing surgery for Stage 1 breast cancer in France, where she lives. On the news that morning were stories of rioting in Makassar, a city for which I received danger pay when traveling there. Gangs of young men were "sweeping" hotels, which means they were threatening to burn down the hotels if the staff didn't provide lists of western expatriates staying there, presumably for intimidation purposes. They'd followed through on their threats before. Students were breaking windows and setting fires on the campus I was going to the next day. The US Embassy, always erring on the side of caution, warned Americans to stay away until things cooled down.
My colleague in Makassar said he and his driver would pick me up from the airport and we would take the road that avoided the town center. Contacts from my colleague's previous line of work in security confirmed to him that the situation was indeed serious. While his security experience put me somewhat at ease (his six-foot tall, muscular frame didn't hurt either), his concern for our safety heightened my anxiety.
As the plane landed, I had a "Godfather" moment alternatively imagining my mother going under the knife, then the riots that would be greeting me in the streets of Makassar.
In the end, we saw no violence. At the university, the rector cheerfully showed us the broken windows and a few that had already been repaired. Our meetings proceeded as planned. My mom came through her surgery with flying colors. When I remember that day, however, I can't divorce my sense of trepidation from the events - or non-events - as they actually occurred.
I imagine Hillary Clinton feels much the same way about her trip to Tuzla, Bosnia. Being warned of potential sniper fire, being sent into a country to which the Secret Service would not send her husband, taking her young daughter along with her no doubt created a sense of unease easily recalled when revisiting the memory, regardless of how the trip actually played out. And with all due respect to Sheryl Crow and Sinbad, whose patriotism in these events is to be admired, the First Lady and her daughter would be more likely targets for snipers wanting to send a message to America than a singer or a comedian.
In my experience, when describing "danger zones," the State Department, the military and the media go out of their way to instill fear. Just read the travel warnings issued by the State Department on Indonesia and Uganda to see what I mean. My guess is that Mrs. Clinton received one of these hair-raising briefings before her journey, and under the pressure of a relentless campaign and sleep deprivation, it caused her to misremember the actual events. Not to mention that over 16 years, she has visited more than 80 countries, including Iraq as a Senator where she probably did have a corkscrew landing. In that context, is it that hard to imagine she would mix up events that occurred over 12 years ago?
But don't take my word for it. Two staffers who traveled with her explain what really happened here and why her recollection was not that off-base: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/opinion/01muscatine.html?scp=2&sq=tuzla&st=nyt.
Wouldn't it be nicer if we could give the candidates the benefit of the doubt and remember that they are all human instead of harping on every misstep?
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1 comment:
Well, the media doesn't care much for issues and neither do the candidates, so the media and the campaigns emphasize character, something that can be manipulated and reshaped, unlike voting records and campaign contributor lists. Sometimes the candidates benefit from playing this game, sometimes not.
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