As headlines about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continue to splash across the world’s front pages, National Review’s Jim Geraty highlights the back story behind Hillary Clinton’s now-infamous 2009 Russian “reset” photo op. According to the new book HRC, longtime Hillary aide Philippe Reines, who at the time was a Senior Adviser at the State Department, just couldn’t resist his love “of both gimmickry and iconic imagery” when trying to pick a symbol for the Administration’s newfound efforts to cozy up to Vladimir Putin:
[Hillary Clinton’s senior adviser] Philippe Reines, a lover of both gimmickry and iconic imagery, had come up with a plan to show the world a symbol of the “reset” mantra. Hillary would give [Russian foreign minister Sergei] Lavrov a gift-wrapped button emblazoned with the English and Russian words for “reset.” It seemed like a clever way to draw attention to the message, one sure to be bounced across the globe on television and in newspaper pictures. But Reines had sidestepped traditional protocol by not asking State’s team of translators to help with the project from the start. He later said he was unaware such resources were available to him.
