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Dmitri Who?

So I was listening to the debate tonight as I was working on something else, and I heard Clinton flub Medvedev’s name.  Like Philip Klein, I thought it was a blunder on her part.  I didn’t pay much attention to this, since I was recovering from my horror after listening to Obama’s answer on Kosovo, which was far […]

So I was listening to the debate tonight as I was working on something else, and I heard Clinton flub Medvedev’s name.  Like Philip Klein, I thought it was a blunder on her part.  I didn’t pay much attention to this, since I was recovering from my horror after listening to Obama’s answer on Kosovo, which was far worse than what I expected (and I was already expecting something pretty bad).  For someone not interested in “rash” or “dumb” wars, he seemed to leave the door open to fighting the Russians over Kosovo much more than he should have (i.e., not at all).  This is simply crazy, and it amazes me that he keeps getting away with saying such reckless things. 

Back to Clinton.  Granted, I pay attention to the scene in Russia more than most, I go to a Russian church and I have taken a little bit of Russian, so maybe I’m bound to know how to pronounce Medvedev’s name, but I don’t think it’s a “gotcha question” for someone aspiring to be the President to know the name of the future President of the only other state with a nuclear arsenal on the scale of Russia’s and to be able to say it without stumbling.  In another era, not that long ago, being unable to come up with the name of the Soviet premier would have been viewed as a major lapse; if this blunder had been committed by Bush in 2000 or Obama today, the “inexperience” angle would be played up for all it was worth.  Frankly, being unable to name the leaders of other major powers around the world ought to count against a candidate.  It’s not as if you’re being asked to name the prime minister of the Netherlands (Balkenende) or the the president of Indonesia (Yudhoyono).

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