Hillary's Unprecedented Experience on the World Stage

[ccpup]

Anyone who doubts Hillary Clinton's impact on the world stage might want to check with the top political leaders in Northern Ireland, who cite her work to end sectarian violence there and help secure a lasting peace.

Anyone who doubts Hillary Clinton's international experience might consult with democracy activists in the Slovak Republic, who remember when she stood in solidarity with them and publicly challenged their new government's suppression of civil society.

They might talk to women - from the Philippines to Latin America to the Middle East - who can vote, own property, or go to school, because Hillary Clinton helped start a global women's movement for women's rights. Or they might travel to Africa and Asia, where Hillary Clinton visited countless remote villages to show how the poorest of the poor could become entrepreneurial and self-sufficient when given access to small loans.

In the heat of presidential campaign politics, candidates on both sides dismiss a First Lady's work as insignificant to foreign policy. But in Hillary Clinton's case, such a presumption is not only wrong, it trivializes the important global issues of human rights, democracy, and international development that are so central to strengthening American values and influence overseas and are hallmarks of her exhaustive work around the world.

(more at link)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lissa-muscatine-and-melanne-verveer/hillarys-unprecedented-e_b_76883.html

[sniffa]

1. that kicks Biden's weak ass resume's ass!!!1!!1!!

[ccpup]

2. I don't know about that

but I was impressed to learn things I hadn't before.

[skipos]

37. No, it doesn't. nt

[JackORoses]

3. Holy Crow, Hillary brought Peace to Northern Ireland! God Save the Queen!

[Tom Rinaldo]

4. Are you in the "she was a house wife in the White House" camp or

are you willing to give her some credit for doing more than smiling and waving when she went overseas on official trips?

[JackORoses]

8. She was a woman preparing for a Presidential run in the White House

Sure, she did more than Laura Bush has.

But she was not elected, held no authority, and made no executive decisions. She was not VP, though some make it out like she was.

Her contributions as First Lady are on par with Nancy Reagan. (Remember 'Just Say No')

[ccpup]

10. I wasn't aware

Nancy Reagan delivered foreign policy addresses at major gatherings of the United Nations, the World Bank, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the World Economic Forum.

Or helped create with the Secretary of State groups like the Vital Voices Democracy Initiative, in which the United States trained women in the new democracies to become leaders in all sectors of their societies.

Or convened the leaders of the world's major religions in Istanbul to discuss ways to fight religious extremism.

Although I doubt you'll do so, perhaps you should actually read the article I linked to before passing judgment on what she did or didn't accomplish.

[JackORoses]

29. Giving Speeches is not Executive experience.

Nor do they effect real change when the speaker holds no Authority to act. Do you think World Leaders made decisions based on Hillary's speeches?

"helped create with the Secretary of State"

Exactly.

[bpeale]

5. she positively sounds like a candidate

for SAINTHOOD :puke:

[ccpup]

6. if you didn't like the article

you didn't need to respond in such a rude way.

[ellisonz]

7. Which all led her to give a blank check to GWB for Iraq...

[Laurab]

9. "Unprecedented" experience??

Sorry, I can't help it.....:rofl: That has to be one of the most ridiculous posts lately, although there are so many to choose from....

[ccpup]

11. obviously you didn't take the time to read the article

Whether one likes her or not, she did more than even I was aware of.

[Laurab]

13. No, I just read an entire book, and she did do a lot.

More than most First Ladies, but "unprecedented experience", it's not. See: Biden, Joe; Richardson, Bill, and maybe Dodd, Chris for experience.

And after seeing the "Obama one hit wonder" thread, and another ridiculous anti-Obama thread, that should never have made it onto the greatest page (kind of like this one), I remembered why I've been trying to stay away from this place lately.

[ccpup]

14. I think the unprecedented

might have been to indicate more than any First Lady before her. I don't think they were taking into account in this article Biden, Richardson, Dodd, etc. as they weren't, to the best of my knowledge, First Ladies. :evilgrin:

[Laurab]

15. Just going by the OP title which doesn't mention First Ladies n/t

[ccpup]

17. ah, that's why

reading the article linked is sometimes a good idea :-)

[AlGore-08.com]

19. Hillary Clinton's accomplishments as First Lady still pale in comparison to Eleanor Roosevelt

eom

[ccpup]

21. Eleanor Roosevelt was a great woman and historic First Lady

and Hillary, in her time and in her way, was a great women and historic First Lady as well.

[BootinUp]

22. There will be a DU poll in less than 10 minutes

to contradict you.

[ccpup]

23. oh, I think I can handle it

In just one day I've been called a "whacko" AND received an incredibly vicious :thumbsdown: I'm doing my best to recuperate from.

A Poll contradicting me will be a walk in the park -- and that's a park during the daytime in a small, "all-american" beaver cleaver town and not in NYC at midnight while wearing a gold watch with $100s falling out of my coat pockets -- compared to all of that.

[AlGore-08.com]

32. HRC was an historic First Lady in what way?

What did she do as First Lady that Roslyn Carter, Betty Ford, Nancy Reagan, or either Mrs. Bush did not do.

Please. Expound.

[Evergreen Emerald]

12. Great article!

[AlGore-08.com]

16. "Hillary Clinton helped start a global women's movement for women's rights"?

The entire line reads: "They might talk to women - from the Philippines to Latin America to the Middle East - who can vote, own property, or go to school, because Hillary Clinton helped start a global women's movement for women's rights."

What exactly is this supposed to mean? When was there a "global women's movement for women's rights" in the 1990s? What specifically did Hillary Clinton do to "help start" it? Where exactly was Hillary Clinton responsible for the increase in womens' suffrage? I have to assume it's not the Philippines, since women were granted the right to vote in 1937. The other areas are too vague. Where are womens' rights on the march in "the Middle East"? (Should we go to Iraq and ask women how their access to the ballot, property ownership and education has changed since Hillary Clinton voted for the IRW?)

Seriously... :wtf:

[ccpup]

20. perhaps they're referring to this:

"Her historic speech at the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 not only galvanized women around the world, it helped spawn a movement that led to advances politically, legally, economically, and socially for women in many countries over the next decade."

and here's a link to the speech "Women's Rights Are Human Rights" by Hillary Clinton
Beijing, China: 5 September 1995

http://www.famousquotes.me.uk/speeches/Hillary-Clinton/

and a very small excerpt:

"Our goals for this Conference, to strengthen families and societies by empowering women to take greater control over their own destinies, cannot be fully achieved unless all governments - here and around the world - accept their responsibility to protect and promote internationally recognized human rights.

The international community has long acknowledged - and recently affirmed at Vienna - that both women and men are entitled to a range of protections and personal freedoms, from the right of personal security to the right to determine freely the number and spacing of the children they bear.

No one should be forced to remain silent for fear of religious or political persecution, arrest, abuse or torture.

Tragically, women are most often the ones whose human rights are violated."

[AlGore-08.com]

31. I repeat, "Where's the beef?"

Give me evidence that there was anything between 1992 and 2000 remotely resembling a "movement that led to advances politically, legally, economically, and socially for women in many countries over the next decade". What advance(s) happened and where did it/they happen? Next, provide documentary evidence that this speech, this conference and/or Hillary Clinton in some other capacity spawned this "movement" or made it grow significantly.

If Hillary Clinton really had been a major figure in a worldwide "movement" that lead to significant advances in human and economic rights for women, this should be extremely easy to do.

If documentary evidence can't be found, then this claim is spin at best.

[Alamom]

36. Here's the beef......"Vital Voices". Never heard of it? Why am I not surprised.>>>>>

http://www.vitalvoices.org/desktopdefault.aspx?page_id=8

Vital Voices Global Leadership

Our History

The nonprofit Vital Voices Global Partnership grew out of the U.S. government's successful Vital Voices Democracy Initiative. The Vital Voices Democracy Initiative was established in 1997 by then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright after the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing to promote the advancement of women as a U.S. foreign policy goal.

Under the leadership of the Vital Voices Democracy Initiative, the U.S. government, in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank, the United Nations, the World Bank, the Nordic Council of Ministers, the European Union and other governments coordinated Vital Voices conferences throughout the world, bringing together thousands of emerging women leaders from over 80 countries.

These conferences launched regional Vital Voices initiatives that continue to give women the skills and resources they need to lift up themselves, their communities and their countries.

The overwhelmingly positive response to the Vital Voices Democracy Initiative led to the creation of Vital Voices Global Partnership as a nonprofit non-governmental organization (NGO) in June 2000. Vital Voices is now continuing the work of advancing women's economic, political and social status around the world, by providing skills, networking and other support to women around the world, whether they are working for the right to vote in Kuwait or entrepreneurship in Vietnam.



Board of Directors
Vital Voices Global Partnership enjoys the support of a very committed Board of Directors with expertise in foreign policy, development, business, communications and philanthropy.

Vital Voices Honorary Chairs
Hillary Rodham Clinton
United States Senator (D-NY) and Former First Lady

Kay Bailey Hutchison
United States Senator (R-TX)

Nancy Kassebaum Baker
Former United States Senator (R-KS)

The rest,
http://www.vitalvoices.org/desktopdefault.aspx?page_id=9


The programs
http://www.vitalvoices.org/desktopdefault.aspx?page_id=396

Much more on the main site.


Google Vital Voices and there are many, many sites describing what they have done & are doing.



edsp

[Armstead]

42. It looks like more neo-liberal do-gooderism

Sen. Kaye Bailey Hutchinson a fellow member of the board, along with leaders of chambers of commerce, the World Bank etc.

They may do good things, but it looks more of the hand-out philosophy in which we are supposed to feel good about addressing symptoms, without actually dealing with the structural causes of problems.

One such focus:

http://www.vitalvoices.org/desktopdefault.aspx?page_id=396

CORPORATE PARTNERS ANNOUNCE OVER $1 MILLION FOR THREE VITAL VOICES PROGRAMS IN AFRICA, ASIA AND LATIN AMERICA AT CLINTON GLOBAL INITIATIVE

* ExxonMobil, Nike, Starbucks and Standard Chartered Bank Support Pan-Africa Leadership Summit for Women and Girls
* Microsoft and Eileen Fisher Support Asian Business Leadership Program to Advance Women’s Rights and End Human Trafficking
* Levi Strauss Invests in Women’s Leadership Initiative for Latin America and the Caribbean

--------------------------

An oil company and clothing firms that export US jobs to sweatshops.....

[BeyondGeography]

18. Which world leader told her we needed to invade Iraq?

[jefferson_dem]

24. Tripe.

It's this garbage-based thesis that trivializes legitimate heroes who have actually worked for the women's rights.

[ccpup]

25. oh, I just think you're mad

that Obama wasted his time voting Present and hobnobbing with Tony Rezko instead of actually racking up something of a real resume with World Leaders on a World Stage.

Damn! That was a real snark-fest from me. Time to log out and get some dinner, I think.

[jefferson_dem]

26. Yeah. Sure.

Hope you have/had a great dinner.

[OwnedByFerrets]

27. Since when did being a great first lady.....

necessarily mean you will be a great president?

[Tom Rinaldo]

28. Since when did being a great anything other than a great President before

necessarily mean you will be a great president? I almost answered Elaenor Roosevelt because I am pretty sure she would have made a great President, but then I realized you really can't be 100% sure about anyone, Senators, Governors, and Vice Presidents included, until they actually become POTUS themselves.

[zulchzulu]

30. Hillary saved us from Halley's Comet hitting the Earth

You forgot to mention that.

:crazy:

[Beacool]

33. This board is such a bore sometimes!!

I can only assume that some of you are college kids, otherwise I don't know how to excuse your lack of comprehension of what Hillary meant to a lot of women in countries where they were kept in submissive roles. Your efforts to disparage her are offensive and show that you have zero knowledge of the work that she did as First Lady.

I remember how interested she was in microcredit and how it was applied to aid women in India to become economically independent. She learned how the process worked and persuaded her husband's administration to provide financial aid to implement it in other parts of the world. Hillary didn't just go to the photo-op places. She insisted in venturing to remote villages and towns where no American official, let alone a First Lady had previously gone before. You do the lady dishonor by disparaging her record.

Here's one of many instances of her involvement in more than mere ceremonial issues.

http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/usia/vitalvoices/news/NEWSE11.HTM

[ccpup]

34. on. the. nose.

I always assumed that Democrats were basically intelligent, fair-minded people. Certainly much more so than Repuglicans. DU has proven me wrong time and time again. The utter lack of interest in being informed while choosing easy, unsubstantiated "digs" in lieu of reasoned discussion have longed cease to amaze me.

If some of these Posters are, in fact, college kids, I say give them another 10 years outside of the cocoon of class and then we'll see how they change. If they do, there's hope. If they don't, it just furthers us along on the road to continuing to get the Government -- and Country -- we deserve.

[William769]

35. K&R!

[Renew Deal]

38. Yes, her experience is only matched by Laura Bush, Barbara Bush, and Nancy Reagan.

That's like 4 people out of 6 billion, so it's pretty unique. :rofl:

[Alamom]

39. Please post these 3 First ladies resumes and bio's for comparison.

Hillary supporters have posted every detail of her 35 years of Public Service.

Please be as considerate if you're going to compare.
Just asking since some of the remarks about Hillary's Resume are ludicrous or just plain fucking stupid. I'm sure everyone has seen them.


Thank you.

[Beacool]

44. Either you're too ignorant on the subject or you're disingenuous.

:crazy:

[Armstead]

40. Granted she has done good things...

There is a lot of hyperbolie in that article, but I won't deny that Hillary served the role of First Lady well.

However, if she were really all that, she'd have seen -- or stood up against -- the idiotic crisis trumped up by the Bush administration to rationalize the war against Iraq.

And, more important, I still believe she is too locked into that elite world where it is believed that a chosen few are the sole repositories of wisdom. Hence she buys into the whole phony package of reforms that do not challenge Corporate Power, and she buys into the neo-liberal form of phony "free trade" the undercuts the very goals she claims to profess.

[nealmhughes]

41. Her touch has been known to cure cancer, too!

Let us give the Slovaks and Irish in Ulster a bit of credit for their own accomplishments, shall we.

[Rock_Garden]

43. excellent!