Quixotic Reference of the Day

I came across this one as I was browsing El Pais for material to use in my Spanish culture class. It’s a review by a writer named Maruja Tarre of Hillary Clinton’s book Hard Choices. Tarre describes herself as a fan of Clinton – one who feels profoundly let down by a book that reveals “una gran ignorancia del mundo en general y una extraordinaria arrogancia” [great ignorance of the world in general and extraordinary arrogance.] I have not read Clinton’s book, which many reviews said was unreadable, so I have to take Tarre’s word for it. What I found interesting was what for Tarre was the last straw:

... en dos oportunidades Hillary califica al gobierno de Muamar el Gadafi como “quijotesco”. Me parece que esa dictadura podía considerarse como grotesca, monstruosa, cruel, anacrónica, ¿pero quijotesca? ¿Qué visión tiene la flamante candidata y exsecretaria de Estado, de un personaje que es un arquetipo universal como Don Quijote? ¿Ha leído aunque sea un resumen para bachillerato, de la obra de Cervantes? Todos esos editores que corrigieron su libro, ¿no pensaron que comparar a un dictador como Gadafi con una figura emblemática de la hispanidad, podría resultar chocante para algunos de esos electores latinos que pretenden conquistar?

[... twice Hillary refers to the government of Muammar Gaddafi as “quixotic.” It seems to me that dictatorship could be thought of as grotesque, monstruous, cruel, anachronistic, but quixotic? What vision does the presumed presidential candidate and former Secretary of State have of such a universal archetype as Don Quixote? Did she bother to read even a summary of Cervantes’s work for her baccalaureate? Didn’t any of those editors who proofread her book think that comparing a dictator like Gaddafi with an emblematic figure of the Hispanic world might shock some of those Latino voters they want to win over?]

I am now curious to track down Hillary’s book and see how she uses “quixotic.” Meanwhile, in her possible defense, it’s worth pointing out that she’s not the only one to go that route with Gaddafi.