Secretary Clinton's Travel at a Bad Time?

The State Department announced Tuesday that Secretary Clinton will travel to Munich, Germany later this week to participate in a security conference, but in the midst of her jet-setting, some have questioned whether or not a trip to Egypt should be in the works instead.

The Secretary's European travel comes on the heels of a Sunday visit to Haiti, where she met with Haitian President Rene Preval and the country's three leading presidential candidates.

While nothing has been announced, there has been wide speculation that Clinton will go to the Mideast region before or after her scheduled trip to Europe.

The Secretary has repeatedly insisted she would monitor the unrest in the Middle East no matter how far she was from Washington D.C., and indeed while in Haiti she held a phone meeting with National Security Adviser Tom Donilon on the issue. And before departing for Haiti on Sunday, Secretary Clinton appeared on every Sunday morning talk show to urge restraint in Egypt, and called for a "peaceful and orderly transition" to democracy.

To date the Obama administration has decided instead to dispatch retired diplomat Frank Wisner, former ambassador to Egypt. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters, "As someone with deep experience in the region, he is meeting with Egyptian officials and providing his assessment."