US secretary of state Hilary Clinton has revealed a talent for self deprecation and comedy by embracing internet meme and posing for skits.
Not since her husband strapped on a sax and blasted his way through Heartbreak Hotel 20 years ago has a Clinton managed to look quite this effortlessly cool.
But whereas Bill needed a TV studio and an adoring audience, Hillary has made do with an improvised workplace, a stack of briefing files and a phone.
Photographed scrutinising her BlackBerry from behind a pair of dark glasses while aides mill behind her aboard a military aircraft, the US secretary of state is a study in understated political potency.
So popular have the two images become that they have given rise to an internet meme that has won approval from Clinton herself.
The Tumblr homage, entitled Texts from Hillary, imagines exchanges between her and the likes of Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Meryl Streep.
In one picture, the president and vice-president joke that Clinton is “just going to love the new Justin Bieber video”, only to receive a terse text from her reading: “Back to work boys.”
In another, Streep interrupts a red-carpet moment to text suggesting brunch. “Obviously,” comes the reply.
Others show a mischievous side. “So then I sent her a text saying I think I left my favourite sunglasses in the desk,”
Condoleezza Rice tells George Bush. “Sorry, Condi, haven’t seen them,” texts the beshaded Clinton.
The Tumblr feed, which was the brainchild of Stacy Lambe and Adam Smith, attracted a huge internet following before coming to the attention of the woman herself.
On Tuesday, Clinton sent the pair her own take on the meme, in which she mocks Lambe’s self-portrait and makes light of her fondness for wearing scrunchies in her hair.
Her entry was autographed with the dedication: “Adam, thanks for the many LOLZ. Hillary ‘Hillz’.”
Guardian