Humour, Hillary!
by Graham Davies

Charm and diplomacy are not things that come naturally to Hillary Clinton. Her first instinct is to confront and attack, rather than befriend and compromise. This may be an effective way of presenting yourself when you are a political candidate, but it can be a problem when you are the Secretary of State.

In the Congo yesterday, a rather silly student asked her what Bill thought of a particular issue. Not unreasonably, she replied, "I am the Secretary of State, not my husband."

If she had said it with a smile, this one-liner would have got a big laugh from the audience, made her point superbly and won her alot of friends. Instead, she delivered it with all the grace of a nuclear assault, dramatically shrugging her shoulders and twisting her face like a bulldog chewing a wasp. The people listening were clearly shocked by her negative intensity.

Someone needs to tell her what all high-pressure presenters need to know: sometimes a smile is a more potent weapon than a growl.