WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton left Washington Monday evening after meeting Jordan’s Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh at the State Department in the morning.

Clinton’s travels will include a seven-nation tour of Africa, where she will reinforce the Obama administration’s commitment to tackling trouble spots across the continent from Somalia and Zimbabwe to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Liberia.

She begins the 11-day trip — her longest overseas journey to date as the top US diplomat — in Nairobi, Kenya where on Aug. 5 she will address the 8th US Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum, or AGOA Forum. From there, she will visit South Africa, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Liberia, and Cape Verde. Kenya is the homeland of President Barack Obama’s late father, and is struggling to overcome political and tribal divisions laid bare in early 2008 after disputed elections between the incumbent President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Clinton, a former presidential candidate, has mostly garnered praise as Secretary of State for her hard work and voicing the Obama Administration’s political line. Her detractors, however, say she’s having a hard time adjusting to the role of an administration official.

During her six months in office, Clinton has gained a reputation for speaking her mind, even when it’s not the diplomatic thing to do. Take, for example, her trip to Asia last month, Clinton made comments which later had to be “clarified” by the State Department.

At a press conference in New Delhi on July 20, she was asked by an Indian reporter whether the US opposed the transfer of sensitive reprocessing and enrichment nuclear technology from India to other countries.“Well, clearly, we don’t,” she said. “We have just completed a civil nuclear deal with India. So, if it’s done within the appropriate channels and carefully safeguarded, as it is in the case of India, then that is appropriate.”

The Indian reporters present thought they had a scoop on a policy change.

Since 2005, the beginning of the US-Indian negotiations on the civil nuclear deal, both the Bush and Obama Administrations have refused to allow India to transfer sensitive technology, citing proliferation concerns.

It seemed Clinton was saying the opposite.

A diplomat at the US Embassy in New Delhi immediately noticed the discrepancy and alerted the State Department, which speedily compiled “press guidance,” anticipating questions from reporters about the secretary’s remark.

Also during last month’s Asia trip, she suggested that Washington could extend a “defense umbrella” to its allies in the Arabian Gulf if Iran fails to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Her aides were quick to clarify that her idea has not been formally discussed by the administration and was only intended to show Iran that having a nuclear weapon would not necessarily make it safer.

Administration officials have also told reporters in public that Clinton, by beginning her sentence with the word “if,” had broken the rule of never engaging in hypotheticals when speaking publicly.

The officials said her answers come from a genuine desire to the questions, rather than repeat scripted talking points — the practice of her predecessor, Condoleezza Rice.

The comment lead Michael Singh, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, to tell reporters the administration “needs to be more disciplined in its public message” about Iran.

But some argue many of the jabs seem unfair. Such as when Clinton, evoking her role as a mother, raised eyebrows when she compared North Korea to an “unruly teenager” in constant need of attention.

Whether you’re for her or against her, one thing is sure — when she speaks, many will be focusing on her every word.