The House Foreign Affairs Committee session Wednesday was Hillary Clinton's first chance to step out of Barack Obama's shadow and prove that she has her own views on US foreign policy. She did, in fact, prove that she is not her master's voice as has been thought thus far. Clinton, testifying for the first time before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, appeared to have been waiting for this opportunity to express her views which are different from the known Obama stand on many issues. On some issues, it appeared as if she were not at all a member of Obama's Cabinet. Her views on Palestine seemed to be that of someone from the Bush Administration. “We will not deal with or in any way fund a Palestinian government that includes Hamas unless and until Hamas has renounced violence, recognized Israel” and abides by earlier agreements with Israel, Clinton told the Committee. Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum called Clinton's statements a move in the wrong direction. “These statements totally contradict Obama's statements about freedom and respect for peoples' democratic choices,” added Barhoum, alluding to Hamas' 2006 electoral victory, which was not recognized by the US. On Iran too, her stance was tough, unlike the soft Obama approach. “We are also laying the groundwork for the kind of very tough, I think you said crippling, sanctions that might be necessary in the event that our offers are either rejected or the process is inconclusive or unsuccessful,” she assured Howard Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who backed dialogue with Tehran but asked if Washington could garner enough support to impose “crippling sanctions” if it fails. She poured cold water on Obama's recent overtures to America's neighbors. Whatever progress Obama had made in mending fences with Cuba, Clinton tried to spoil it by her anti-Castro remarks. “You can see there is beginning to be a debate, I mean this is a regime that is ending. It will end at some point,” she said about the regime in Havana. On Pakistan also, her statements were harsh for the Zardari government whom she blamed for ceding more and more territory to the Taleban. These remarks do not befit an administration which is trying through its policy of engagement to undo the damage done by the Bush government. This muscle-flexing by Clinton does not augur well for the Obama administration. __
