The CBS drama Madam Secretary does such a good job of cleaning up how the US Secretary of State conducts business with foreign governments. A down-to-earth woman played by Téa Leoni wrestles with her conscience in negotiating treaties while spatting with her kids & necking with her high-principled professor husband.
Are they modeling the character on Secretary of State Madeline Albright who said the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi kids were “worth it” to achieve US policy goals? Or are we talking Hillary Clinton who collaborated with Bill Clinton to turn Haiti into a sweatshop haven for US businesses & a personal ATM machine for themselves? Who turned a blind eye to the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya in Myanmar to advance US investments in the country? Who brokered arms to the Egyptian military to use against the Egyptian uprising & advocated US military intervention in Libya? Who supported Israeli carpet bombing in Gaza last summer claiming Hamas “provoked” Israel?
It likely doesn’t make a difference that Leoni comes from a family connected to the highest levels of US power–corporate & political. But it might suggest why she’s willing to participate in this fairytale-farce.