Last weekend, the blog Stormin’s Morning Java noticed an odd claim on the State Department website.  In a list that intended to brag about how much Hillary Clinton had traveled as the new Secretary of State to foreign countries, Foggy Bottom included a trip to Texas:

I figured that this was simply a clerical error, albeit a rather stupid one by a clerk who didn’t realize that Texas wasn’t a foreign country.  Unfortunately, it turns out that State has apparently decided to give full diplomatic recognition to the Republic of Texas, helping Governor Rick Perry by mooting a need to secede first.  In their press release celebrating 100 days of the Obama administration, State continues to include travel to Texas as one of their major accomplishments:

OVERALL DEPARTMENT POLICY ACCOMPLISHMENTS, REGULATORY INITIATIVES, AND INTERAGENCY EFFORTS

In the first 100 Days of the Obama Administration, Secretary Clinton and the State Department have made significant progress in advancing America’s national security goals and promoting America’s values around the world.

Secretary Clinton is already the most traveled Secretary of State in a new Administration. The Secretary’s trips have included her inaugural trip to Asia, the Middle East and Europe, Mexico and across the border to Texas, the Hague in the Netherlands, Europe with President Obama, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago with President Obama, and to Iraq and Kuwait.

The work undertaken on these trips, the many bilateral and trilateral meetings hosted by Secretary Clinton, and the tireless efforts of others throughout the State Department have contributed to early and significant progress on the following priorities: Afghanistan/Pakistan policy, the Middle East, Iraq, Asia, Russia, North Korea, the Western Hemisphere, the climate crisis, engaging in public diplomacy, and other core issues.

Wow.  Has Hillary visited Maryland and Virginia, too?  If she visits Utah, will she bow to the Governor, or just curtsey?

Let’s also recall the “significant progress” State has made in the above areas:

• Afghanistan – Completely failed to get more combat troops from NATO.
• Pakistan – Say, isn’t that the Taliban just outside the capital in Islamabad?
• Middle East – Netanyahu won’t budge until Obama does something about Iran … which conveniently got left off the list.
• Russia – Gave a mistranslated reset button to Sergei Lavrov, who then told Hillary and Obama that they wouldn’t lift a finger to stop Iran from going nuclear.  Oh, and the US retreated from missile defense in Europe.  Smart power.
• North Korea — North Korea? The country that just defied Obama, launched a long-range missile, and kicked out all the UN inspectors and declared a restart on all nuclear programs?  That North Korea?  It that’s “significant progress,” then I hate to see what a setback looks like.
• Engaging in public diplomacy – Yes, like telling the Europeans that she doesn’t understand multiparty democracy, that our system is better, and Europeans didn’t have democracy before the US.  Oh, and let’s not forget getting the names of her EU counterparts wrong.  Thank goodness all that happened in public!
• “Other core issues” — Well, they did get an iPod to the Queen, and bowed to Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah.

Given all of that, I’m wondering when Texas plans to break off diplomatic relations.