WASHINGTON -- Eclipsed by a globe-trotting president, a foreign policy-savvy vice president and a bevy of special envoys, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is struggling to re-emerge this week as the Obama administration's diplomatic heavyweight.
Clinton is trying to retake center stage as the top foreign policy voice of the U.S. government after four frustrating low-profile weeks during which a fractured elbow forced her to cancel two overseas trips.
Her diminishing presence abroad and at home, followed by her startling public criticism of the White House this week for delaying a major State Department appointment, has prompted a flurry of speculation whether her influence is waning inside President Barack Obama's Cabinet.
Clinton is set to deliver what aides bill as a major policy address at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington on Wednesday. A day later she heads off on an around-the-world trip as she attempts to shake the perception among a growing number of foreign policy observers that she has been sidelined as a major player inside the Obama Cabinet.
"Her role so far has been more in the field of public relations than in policy formation," said Reginald Dale, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "She is seen as glamorous and in many countries as a valuable symbol of the United States, but it is not at all clear that she has an in-depth influence on foreign policy."
"She needs to decide if she wants to be the administration's mascot or have an impact on actual policy," he said. "If she wants to have an impact the speech may be a way of claiming her stake."
Clinton's frustration was perhaps evident on Monday when in a rare fit of pique, she lashed out at the White House for failing to quickly nominate someone to lead the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The post is considered critical to what Clinton refers to as "smart power," the combination of defense, diplomacy and development that the administration wants to guide its foreign policy. - FOX News Story
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