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At Slate's XX Factor, my friend Eve Fairbanks compliments Hillary Clinton for not making a major human rights speech in China.
Amnesty International, I understand, was "disappointed" that Clinton failed to adequately whine about human rights abuses to the Chinese government, but I really liked that she replaced the ritualized righteous complaints with simple frank talk.Instead, Eve is pleased that Clinton pissed off the Chinese authorities by attending church. So when it comes to foreign policy, do symbolic actions speak louder than words? Recent history tells us that can often be the case, for good or for ill: Remember Ariel Sharon's disasterous visit to the Temple Mount? But are we really ready to cede the moral authority that comes with calling a spade a spade?--Dana Goldstein
