Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton says Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is “nearly irrelevant” when it comes to national security issues, which explains how she has time to comment on the embassy in Rome being instrumental in bringing pop-rock star Lady Gaga to a concert for gay rights in the Italian capital.
“This has nothing to do with your view on gay marriage or anything on that broad issue,” Bolton said Tuesday on The Steve Malzberg Show on the WOR Radio Network. “The fact that you never see the secretary of state at the center of key deliberations on national security issues — she’s kind of like an afterthought at the White House.
“It’s probably the explanation why having not much else to do she turns to this sort of activity,” said Bolton, who is considering a 2012 presidential run. “The secretary is nearly irrelevant on the key issues that face us on national security — and I think that’s symbolic of many of the reasons why the Obama foreign policy gets off on the tangents that it does.”
On Monday, Clinton told a group of gay and lesbian State Department employees that the embassy in Rome was key to bringing Lady Gaga to the festival calling for gay, lesbian, and transgender rights in Europe.
“And then there is the work that our embassy team in Rome has been doing,” Clinton said. “Two weeks ago they played an instrumental role in bringing Lady Gaga to Italy for a Euro Pride concert.”