Hillary's "I'm secretary of state" rant: Hysterical or badass?

Earlier this week, after a Congolese university student asked what her husband Bill Clinton thought about an international trade situation, Hillary Clinton had a little snap attack. Her face and body got tense. She raised her voice, and she said: "Wait, you want me to tell you what my husband thinks? My husband is not secretary of state, I am. If you ask my opinion I will tell you my opinion, but I am not going to be channeling my husband."

This flare-up was assertive for sure, and perhaps even a little aggressive, but was it really so wrong? So out of line? If that question was real (it turned out to be a translator's mistake), it was kind of offensive, and honestly, it's likely it never would've been asked of a man.

Let's also consider that Ms. Clinton was in the middle of a weeks-long trip to insane-hot Africa, where she'd been discussing heady subjects like land mines, wartime rapes, and the World Bank for days. Let's further imagine that since this was her first extended overseas trip as secretary of state, she wanted to begin to define herself in this new role, to make a splash in whatever way it is that senior diplomats make positive splashes (basically, let's guess that Hillary Clinton is trying to do a really good job and, like any normal person, she would like some acknowledgment for it). But...we all know what happened next: While Hillary was secretary-of-stating in Africa, her husband embarked on a heroic mission to rescue two young female journalists. Even if Hillary created world peace while juggling fire-it's hard to compete with Bill-Clinton-as-superhero.

Since the Congo incident, Ms. Clinton has been disparaged and ridiculed. She's been called "Shrillary" and the outburst has been deemed a "hissy fit" and "hysterical" and all of those other annoying words men use to describe women who are legitimately annoyed or pissed off. I've watched the clip dozens of times and I still can't decide if she seems like a jerk or simply like a woman living in a man's world who's just a wee bit exhausted by this world's never-ending inequality. It's a real problem.

You know what else is a problem? Polls like this one from today which reduce Ms. Clinton's lifetime of accomplishments into a high-school-esque popularity contest.