Will To Power

"Does this dress go with Darfur?"

Samantha Power throws back her beautiful head and laughs, then offers me a glass of Balkan Cabernet.

"I get this wine from my dear friends in Kosovo," she smiles, pouring me a generous portion. "I don't know where they get it, or who makes it, but I love its rich bouquet." Power lifts the glass to her elegant nostrils, breathing in as her dazzling eyes sparkle with appreciation. "Mmmmm. It has a NATOy nuance, don't you agree?"

I take the glass and sniff for myself. Yes. Very NATOy, indeed. The intoxicating scent of freedom and human rights.

Of course, this is no surprise nor coincidence. Samantha Power is perhaps America's finest humanitarian, the author of the highly acclaimed "Other Countries' Crimes: When America Averts Its Eyes, Bad Things Happen," and the Pulitzer Prize winning, "Why Africans Go Berserk: A White Liberal's Guide". She is touted by political heavyweights like Richard Holbrooke and Hollywood celebrities like George Clooney, but most recently, Power had the ear of a rising star by the name of Barack Obama.

I say "had," because a few days ago Power, while speaking to a Scottish newspaper, called Democratic rival Hillary Clinton a "psycho bitch with the manners of a goat" who would "pimp out Monica Lewinsky if it would win her one vote." Power also compared Clinton to "Yoko Ono staging a coup to take over The Beatles." This upset many people in the Clinton campaign, and while Power was supposedly speaking off the record, her statements put the Obama campaign on the defensive, forcing her to step down.

"I'm like really, really, really so very, very sorry I said that," Power admits, her full, pouting lips quivering with regret. "Senator Clinton is an upstanding American and one hell of a woman. I don't know what came over me." She then flashes that sizzling smile which can turn even the most hardened foreign tyrant into jelly. "Thank God I have Harvard to fall back on!"

Her longtime friend and Clinton adviser Richard Holbrooke holds no hard feelings.

"Sam got carried away, that's all. This is a heated campaign. The stakes are very high. In her heart, Sam knows that Senator Clinton shares many of her passions, like bombing official enemies, for one. You can't take any of it personally."

Many in the media have been quick to defend the silky, sassy humanitarian hottie.

"If there is one thing the Clinton crowd knows how to do, it’s provoke," writes Bob Herbert in The New York Times. "Unfortunately, Samantha Power fell into the Clinton trap. She's not the first to do so, nor will she be the last, but one thing's for certain: she'll be the most glamorous."

"Power has dedicated her entire adult life rather tirelessly to championing humanitarian causes," adds The Huffington Post's Marc Cooper. "Her being forced from the Obama campaign is sickening, although one glimpse at Power and the sick feeling ebbs. God, I'd love to chew on her panties for about an hour. Aii-yooo!"

Power appreciates the support, and takes the controversy in bewitching stride.

"I'll continue to help Senator Obama become the next leader of the free world in any way I can," she promises, fluttering her delicate eyelashes. "But for now, there's important work to be done. I'm hosting a fundraising cocktail party for the African crab spider, which is being systematically wiped out by the Bena Luluwa tribe in Zaire. It's an emergency situation, I'm afraid. Plus, I'm under a tight deadline for my next book, "Gaza Says What?: Looking Elsewhere For War Crimes.'"

She giggles brilliantly.

"It's a lighter work, but hey, I'm due for some down time, right?"

With a glass of Kosovo wine, I suspect.