Clinton's Brexit Response Is Boring & That's Good

Hillary Clinton may get accused of a lot of things, but being overly florid in her language isn’t one of them. So, it’s no surprise that Clinton's public statement regarding the Brexit vote is a little on the dry side. But while the former Secretary of State’s words may not be as horrendously chewy as her presumptive GOP opponent, her statement underscores that although she may not have the reality TV entertainment value of Trump, she's a diplomat who, you know, could act appropriately in world affairs.

The Clinton campaign released her response over Twitter just before 7 a.m. ET on Friday, a couple of hours after U.K. Prime Minister and anti-Brexit campaigner David Cameron announced he was stepping down. Her opening sentences sound like something you’d hear from a crisis counselor: respecting the results of the referendum, but then insisting that making sure everyone is safe.

From there, she goes into full diplomat mode, hoping to make the best out of a situation that is still highly volatile and uncertain. For those of you who aren’t getting a master's degree in contemporary history at a U.K. University (like me), special attention should be paid to her use of the phrase “special relationship,” a keyword coined by Winston Churchill in a lecture tour of the United States in 1946. Since then, it has been the diplomatic code word, referring to the two nations’ unique relationship, and while it might fall on mostly-deaf ears in America, it’s a loud and clear statement to uncertain citizens (and businesses) in the United Kingdom.

Of course, it wouldn’t be 2016 without a baldly political pivot. For the people who might not have picked up on her subtle diplomatic lingo, she brings it back to “calm, steady, experienced leadership in the White House” (God forbid we forget there's a race to be U.S. president) and reminds us of the importance of having a leader "to protect Americans’ pocketbooks and livelihoods." Clinton's final missive about the "need to pull together" and "not tear each other down" is also a not-so-subtle jab at her opponent's penchant for ripping into various communities.

Clinton's Brexit response may not inspire great emotion (good or bad). However, compared to her opponent’s massive cluster of a Twitter response to the EU Referendum results, Clinton has shown that she knows her history, she knows her diplomacy, and she’s already preparing for the free world she’s hoping to inherit.