Compare/contrast

This is the prepared text for Hillary Clinton’s opening statement at today’s confirmation hearings. She’s spent the subsequent two hours expanding on those points and defending herself.

Silly question. How many months—years?—will Lawrence Cannon be the Foreign Affairs Minister before he commits as much to the record?

Update. Maybe I’m being hard on Larry, who I actually find sort of endearing.

Nonetheless. He’s been Foreign Affairs Minister since the end of October. By the count of the Ministry website, he’s delivered three speeches—see here, here and here. He has put his name to statements on India, Maldives, the Congo, Burma, Darfur, APEC, Iran, Thailand, Mumbai, Mumbai, Mumbai, Mumbai, Mumbai, Mumbai, Thailand, Thailand, Mongolia, Greece, Niger, Zimbabwe, Middle East peace, holiday travel, Iran, Guinea, Israel, Iran, Bangladesh, Ghana, Israel and the Boundary Waters Treaty.

So maybe he has actually committed as many words to the record. Just in snack size. Foreign policy fit for the back of a postcard.

Does all of this equal that? Good question.