24 Hours With Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

[Beacool]

by Leslie H. Gelb
published: 10/25/2009



"We’re going to work you to death,” Hillary Clinton promised me with a laugh. She was taking me—and PARADE’s readers—along on a typical day in the life of the U.S. Secretary of State. Our 24 hours together would prove both grueling and inspirational, full of diplomatic pageantry, big meetings with policy brainiacs, small sessions with trusted aides, a stream of time-consuming formal duties, and, of course, phone calls and more phone calls. The Secretary allowed me to be a fly on the wall for almost every minute, under the constantly watchful eyes of the Diplomatic Security Service. Having known her since her husband began his first run for the White House in 1991, I couldn’t stop myself from calling her Hillary. To everyone else, however, she was always Madame Secretary.

http://www.parade.com/news/2009/10/25-24-hours-with-secretary-of-state-hillary-clinton.html?index=1

A lovely article about our SOS and lots of pics.

Found a companion piece to the original article



Why Hillary Is Happy. Really.
by Janice Kaplan

I have a lot of busy days, but when I saw a schedule recently for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, my first response was—really?

She had seven meetings to attend before lunch and five meetings after. The topics ranged from Senegal to Saudi Arabia to energy security. At the end of the day, she had phone calls to top officials, followed by a dinner event. Oh, and there’d been a dinner the night before, too. Nothing on the schedule said, “kick back and read a novel.”

And I bet she wouldn’t change one minute of it.

http://www.parade.com/news/first-take/2009/1023-hillary-clinton.html

:-)

[Skittles]

1. awesome gal

:thumbsup:

[Clio the Leo]

2. It would have been so easy for her to be bitter and petty...

..... to cross her arms because she didn't get what she wanted and spit into the face of history.

Instead, she's rolled up her sleeves and is doing her part to make the world a better place.

We should all follow her lead.

[Beacool]

3. She's always been a hard worker.

;-)

[Clio the Leo]

4. Yep ..... them Clintons dont play!

I'm glad they're on our side! lol

[murielm99]

14. She was respected in the Senate, even by the republicans,

because she was not afraid to do the hard work often expected of junior Senators.

This job does not make her a second class citizen. It is not a consolation prize. She is absolutely suited to it.

I respect her for being a loyal Democrat and American. She has one of the best legal minds of her generation, too.

[BlueMTexpat]

24. +1!!! Many times over!! n/t

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. I think she realized that this was her place...

And a damned good place it is.

She is making excellent history as part of Obama's team.

[Beacool]

6. What do you mean by "her place"?

:o

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. Sorry, bad choice of words...

I don't know how to say it any more clearly...

Her spot?

Her best use?

I dunno!

Sorry!

I'm NOT saying she wouldn't have been a terrific President...OK?

[Beacool]

10. Oh, now I get it.

:hi:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

11. Cool!

:hi:

[Clio the Leo]

7. Yep, we are lucky that both she and Nancy KNOW their places....

.... RUNNIN' the SHOW!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

9. You got it!

[jillan]

12. Thank you for posting this - I was wondering about Hillary.

I also heard today that her approval numbers are in the 60s - wow!

[Beacool]

13. You're welcome.

:hi:

[joeycola]

15. Thanks for the post

[Beacool]

32. You're welcome, Joey.

The thread is back. I don't know what's going on.

:-(

[SwampG8r]

40. which thread?

im kind of out of the loop here

[Beacool]

41. This one.

I opened it here, it was moved by the moderators to GD. I questioned them and the thread was deleted altogether. I later saw it back again here with an apology from one of the moderators. It appears that it had been a mistake.

Well, at least it's back.

:eyes:



:hi:

[Autumn]

16. That woman is amazing. No I

don't think she would change a moment of it either.

[mucifer]

17. It is great to see she is a hard worker and very intelligent. But, I was troubled

by what she had to say in the article about Afghanistan.

It really feels to me, and I know I have no proof, that President Obama has made his decision to send thousands more
troops. But, he is waiting to announce this so that we liberals will feel like he didn't rush into it.

That said I'm confident Hillary Clinton wouldn't ignore the daily briefing the way condi rice did.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

19. Gotta Love Her.

So proud of her.

[rvablue]

20. What was the big deal

about moving this from GDP?

She's part of the administration. Seems like it fits into that category.

Whatever.

[karynnj]

21. I agree with you, but the definitions are unclear for the forums now that we are governing

I suspect it is because, these are mostly fluff pieces concentrating on Clinton. But, the first article does detail what a Secretary of State's days are like and it shows the range of issues she is working on for Obama.

I am not a fan of HRC, but I think there is FAR too much premature spinning by people allied with and against HRC. Both hurt the Obama administration. The extreme examples of both are ludicrous. HRC clearly has had a seat at the table when every foreign policy issue has been discussed and she has met with leaders across the globe - so the idea that she is sidelined is not true. However, the opposite end, that pretty much credits her with defining the President's policy is equally silly. The President is the one who sets it. (If you question that, consider that Powell was more reasonable than Rice, but the policy at the end of Bush's term, under Rice, was better than the policy at the beginning under Powell - (neither were all that good). What happened was Bush himself shifted as nothing worked and actually agreed to some diplomacy)

Clinton did have a triumph in keeping the Armenia and Turkey agreement on track, but that is the only example of something like that that I have seen. It does suggest that she is capable of doing this and she may have another 7 plus years to have real accomplishments that we all should cheer as meeting Democratic goals.

Here is an article that puts this into perspective,

"Every secretary of state has competition for influence on foreign policy and that's especially true in administrations like Obama's where other senior officials such as Vice President Biden have expertise in the area," said Larry Sabato, a professor at the University of Virginia.

"No secretary of state gets to be 'president for foreign affairs.' Even Kissinger couldn't pull that off," he said, referring to Henry Kissinger, the powerful top diplomat in the Nixon administration.

Julian Zelizer, a professor at Princeton University, said Clinton has had some successes, signature issue or not, in rekindling relations with U.S. allies after low points reached under former President George W. Bush's administration.

"Clinton has been taking some big steps in repairing U.S. relations in other parts of the globe," he said. "She is on the front lines of opening dialogue with allies and adversaries."

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE59N0YN20091024?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=11604

I suspect that the reason this may have been moved is that the moderator who did it is tired of the cycle that seems to be happening constantly where
1) First some foreign policy event the primarily focuses on someone other than Clinton - including Obama himself
2) Second, handwringing articles that HRC is sidelined
3) Third, a spate of HRC fluff pieces (this time other articles, not in the op, are better examples.)

(I recommended this as it has a very good description of her day to day job.)

[Beacool]

22. It is an interesting article about the grueling day of a SOS.

Of course if it has to do with a Clinton many will object. There are plenty of articles that have zero to do with the president (I cited some) and are still at GDP, but since this one is about Hillary and since I'm the one who posted it, I'm sure there were some busy little bees complaining about it. Funny, because I haven't once unrec'd anyone's posts, nor placed anyone on ignore or alerted on anyone. I believe in freedom of speech, a scarce commodity on this board.

:(

[karynnj]

25. I agree with you, I have posted Kerry articles in DU, if there is any Obama connection

in the article and have never had them moved. (There have been cases, where I actually goofed and had things that maybe should have been moved.) So, I agree with you. I can see that the second article is just HRC, but the first is about the role of Obmaa's Secretary of State. (Though there may have been some differences, if it were someone else - it is relevant to Obama to know what it is.) I have done that because I have posted mainly detailed articles or stuff from hearings and it sinks fast anywhere.

[Beacool]

23. Because it's about Hillary.

If this article had been about another Dem. it would probably still be there.

:shrug:

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

26. Hi all,

We want to apologize. We made a mistake in moving this from GDP to GD.

best,
wakemeupwhenitsover

[Beacool]

33. OK, thank you for bringing it back.

:hi:

[jesus_of_suburbia]

27. I hope Hillary occasionally takes time to rest... but I'm guessing she doesn't!

I loved the last paragraph in particular.

She's a workhorse.... determined to be a success at every position she holds.

[JohnnyLib2]

28. 40 years in the spotlight and she continues to excel!

Yup, the commencement address that brought her to attention was in 1969.
Remarkable life story.

[PBS Poll-435]

29. K&R

Best SoS in a very long time.

[girl_interrupted]

31. I read something remarkable about Hillary the other day

It was in connection to David Axelrod and his daughter. The Axelrod family has been speaking out about their daughter's struggle with epilepsy. As 1st Lady, Hillary had done significant work on behalf of epilepsy causes for a foundation co-founded by Axelrod's wife and mother, Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE) (Axelrod's daughter suffers from developmental disabilities associated with chronic epileptic seizures.) Axelrod's wife even said that a 1999 conference Clinton convened on finding a cure for the condition was "one of the most important things anyone has done for epilepsy."


She has accomplished so many good things. I was very happy to this post returned to GD P & read the Parade articles. How she keeps up with such a busy schedule, is amazing. But it looks like it agrees with her. She looks great and seems very happy with her new position as SoS. Her approval ratings are at an all time high. I wish her continued success!

[Beacool]

34. Thanks for your post.

Yes, she's quite a remarkable woman. She seems quite happy at State, but it's a grueling job. I hope that she's taking care of herself.

:)

[girl_interrupted]

37. Thank You! I admire Hillary very much

And it's so nice when there are posts keeping us updated as to what she is doing! I really enjoy them. I was so touched when I read that about Hillary & the Axelrod family. She has always been so interested in children & health care. Anyways, it's good to see her happy...she looks terrific! And it seems a lot of people agree that she is doing a great job as SoS, and it's nice to see her appreciated. She seems to relish hard work, but I do hope she takes a well deserved break, now and then. So thanks again for keeping us informed!

:)

[Beacool]

38. She's always been interested in children.

Hillary could have taken a high profile job in some law firm, but before moving to Arkansas she went to work for the Children's Defense Fund. She and Bill love children, it's unfortunate that they could only have Chelsea.

Speaking of Axelrod, he and his wife are on 60 Minutes right now talking about their daughter. What a coincidence!! LOL!!!

:D

[joeycola]

42. yes, i have read of her work with the epilepsy

a few years back.

[question everything]

30. Great story and quote

And what of the rumors, I venture, that she’s unhappy and may step down to run for governor of New York or her old Senate seat? She guffaws. “What nonsense! I love this job and working for President Obama and trying to do something about the critical problems we face in the world—and that’s what I’m going to do.”

Great going, Madame Secretary. And early wishes for Happy Birthday tomorrow.

[Jackeens]

35. K&R - great article, beautiful photos, thank you!

Loved this one especially:



She is fantastic :toast:

[Beacool]

36. You're welcome!!!

And thank YOU for all the wonderful pic threads that you post regularly.

:pals:

[Blasphemer]

39. K&R - Amazing piece! nt