Hillary Doesn't Get Why Her Photo Went Viral

The U.S. Department of State provided Americans with a glorious New Year's gift on Thursday by releasing over five thousand more of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's e-mails. What makes the release such a pleasant surprise? While the messages haven't really been so successful at making Hill look like a baddie, a lot of them have been downright hilarious. In this newest batch, Clinton's response to her texting while wearing sunglasses photo going viral is priceless.

The news of the trending pic came to the attention of Clinton's then-Counselor and Chief of Staff, Cheryl Mills, by way of an e-mail entitled, what else but, "Photo gone viral!" Mills received a note back in April of 2012 from Russell Potter, presumably a former colleague of Mills's in the Dept. of State, letting her in on the fact that just about everyone was sharing Hill's photo on Facebook.

Not sure if you're aware of this photo and its recent "life" on Facebook. Seems everyone is posting it. (Even people who are not DoS employees!)

If you're not aware of the photo, or have forgotten sometime in the last three years the awesomeness that was seeing Hillary too busy on her Blackberry to pay attention to the documents before her AND wearing sunglasses simultaneously, let me refresh your memory.

Mills then forwarded Potter's e-mail to Clinton (who goes simply by "H"). An hour later, Clinton responded to Mills, and the two-sentence reply was priceless.

Why now? That was on way to Libya?

Please try to tell me that those two questions do not comprise the most "mom" response possible. Now, Hillary has done a fair job of keeping up with the trends over the years, with the exception of her fashion choices, and avoiding seeming too much like a total mom. The photo itself speaks to Clinton's success at using new technology and looking like a total boss. But her questions for Mills immediately draw to mind that mother you know who doesn't quite understand the inner-workings of social media or the gravity of her photo being shared among millions of Facebook users. Maybe it's usually your friend's mom. Maybe it's your own mom. But in that moment, Hill was that mom and her reaction was equal parts adorable and hilarious.

Maybe even better than Hill's questions, though, was Mills's answer.

You look cute.

And that's all she wrote — literally. I'm not so sure "cute" is the descriptor I would use for Clinton in this particular photo, since I would probably pee my pants if I was introduced to Hill and that was the face she was making. But Mills clearly knows how to keep a gal pal calm in viral photo situations, not that Hillary was even the slightest bit bothered by the whole thing anyway.