As America’s top diplomat, she would have been the logical one to send in anyway, but when it comes to reining in Hamid Karzai, in fact whenever the situation calls for a special touch of charm, Hillary Clinton is the girl for the job. She possesses a superbly gifted intellect, has been blessed with exquisite beauty (which never hurts when dealing with men), and has the most extraordinary social skills. We know her I.Q. is high, but even though President Obama cited her intellect and her work ethic when choosing her for this job, it is her E.I. – her emotional intelligence, her ability to read people and appeal to their concerns that makes her so successful in efforts such as the Afghanistan initiative, billed as a charm offensive, over the past week, a week that ended, by the way, with her receiving a visit from the incoming Foreign Minister of the U.K., William Jefferson Hague (yes, that IS his middle name!), whom she also welcomed warmly and impressed. If you are going to launch a charm offensive, she is your girl!
Although the new governor of my state appears to think elementary school teaching is babysitting, the truth is that elementary school teachers need to know all subjects and also know how to present them clearly, integrally, and memorably. Secretary Clinton would be an excellent elementary school teacher. This week she spoke at the 2010 CARE Conference and gave a brilliant speech explaining how assuring one relatively simple basic need, good nutrition, over the thousand days from conception to age two, can change the course of history for a country and for the world. It is remarkable when you think about that, and it is remarkable how she manages to take an issue like that and crystallize its importance. The lesson, if you watched the video, was indelible!
So here is Secretary Clinton’s amazing week in review. God bless her!
Monday: Hosting a dinner for Hamid Karzai.
Who could possibly resist that smile?
Tuesday: Afghanistan – U.S. Strategic Talks
Even if they were not recognized as such (but I believe they were), Tuesday was all day all about Afghanistan with officials from both governments meeting with their counterparts. The Secretary shared the podium with President Karzai several times during the day, and managed to squeeze in that impressive speech at the CARE Conference as well.
Wednesday: The day began with the lovely SOS addressing the 40th Washington Conference on the Americas wearing one of my all-time favorite jackets.
The charm offensive then moved to the White House for a joint press availability with Presidents Obama and Karzai. Can you see in this face, especially around the eyes, what I mean by her high E.I.?
As part of her lesson plan for President Karzai, she sent him on two field trips:
1. With Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to Walter Reade to meet our warriors wounded in fighting the Taliban he said he might join.
2. With With General Stanley McChrystal to the Afghanistan section of Arlington National Cemetery.
Thursday: Secretary Clinton and President Karzai held a moderated conversation at the U.S. Institute of Peace.
As a reward for responding positively to her efforts, Secretary Clinton treated President Karzai to another field trip, this time to the beautiful botanical gardens at Dumbarton Oaks, prior to his departure.
Friday: In the aftermath of the defeat of the Labour Party in the U.K. election earlier in the week, both Gordon Brown and David Miliband tendered their resignations. Miliband’s successor, William Hague, paid a visit to the State Department on Friday, and the Secretary greeted him warmly looking just beautiful in a pink pantsuit and pink pearls. Looking gorgeous never hurts!
She appears to have impressed him very favorably according to his own words on PBS Newshour last night.
Huge week, well done, Madame Secretary! Beautifully done by a true beauty!
Your posts always make me smile. I’ve come to believe that smart power=flirting power. The pink pantsuit is wonderful. One of my new favorites.
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If you were to ask her what kind of diplomatic model she has devised, I don’t think she would answer, “A sexy one.” That’s not what she thinks her smart power is, but from a purely observational stance, it sure LOOKS sexy!
This is the first time in my life that I have thought an SOS was entertaining to watch. She’s better than a movie!
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She’s good. She seems to know where every light bulb in DC is and how to make it help her look good.
(edited with your correction)
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Well this continues in the vein of my movie comment! LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION! The camera seems to love her.
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The thing is that type of hardcore focus on one’s appearance usually comes off as extremely arrogant. (I have worked with people like that in the past and it gets obnoxious really quickly.) She doesn’t seem, at least from her press coverage anyway, to suffer from that arrogance – as if the light is finding her as opposed the other way around. (See the second shot in the green jacket for an example.) Then again I’m sure you learn a thing or two after nearly twenty years on the national scene.
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I don’t think she knows she’s beautiful or thinks about it. She’s too busy thinking about her job and getting the work done. She doesn’t appear to be vain. She just goes about her business and has a good time doing it. It’s cute and comes across as pretty in photos.
Of course it’s not all a bed of roses. She has her tough and serious side as well. But as we saw with Karzai, she can be pretty charming doing that as well.
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I hope she knows deep down that she is beautiful. I think it’s obvious that she is . She is beautiful and smart, and she is funny. Hillary has the whole package.
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She does have the whole package. I just don’t think she THINKS about being beautiful – beauty unaware.
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but she’s certainly such a beauty!
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ABSOLUTELY!!!! She is exquisite!
Last year, when she went to Trinidad-Tobago for an OAS conference, they called a hairdresser into the hotel who later posted a little narrative at Hillary’s Village (now defunct). When she asked Hillary how she wanted her hair, Hillary said, “Just make me look nice.”
(The hairdresser did that bangin’ job that we saw in the pics with Chavez. Bangs and a flip. She was wearing an aqua jacket, and she looked INCREDIBLE!)
But I think her instruction to the hairdresser sums up her “looks” agenda. She just wants to look “nice.”
Well, Hillary, you do. You look really, really nice! Always! Everyone appreciates the effort you take in putting yourself together. The effect is lovely and enchanting. I especially like your “flag diplomacy” when you step off a plane or enter a national building dressed in the color of the flag. It speaks VOLUMES to people even though you do not speak their language.
*pretty sure she also looks gorgeous soaked, without makeup, wearing a towel – or not – stepping out of the shower – she’s just beautiful – she can’t help it*
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Ok, I must have missed this earlier but William Jefferson Hague?!?! What are the odds?! Well, thankfully they look very different or it would just be weird. It certainly would make for some weapons-grade flirting.
On a serious note, President Karzai seems to genuinely get along with Secretary Clinton as opposed to simply appreciating the attentions of a powerful, political superstar whose not looking bad for her age. That makes me pleased because it’s been said that he has issues with others in the administration. She seems to “get him” in a way I don’t think the others always do.
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I edited when I discovered his full name, so you did not miss it.
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Yes, I think everyone concedes she is the one who works best with him, and I think I know why. I wish I could find this picture, it was taken way back in early 2009 and a NATO conference – somewhere in eastern Europe – maybe Prague. They were in a dark castle-like place and she was so cold, she had a shawl – I think it was green, pulled around her and she sat very still simply listening to him. Just the two of them. Whenever you want o know why or how she has a special relationship, you can always find evidence that she listened, just exactly the way she did to the people of New York State and later the people of the U.S.A.
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With all that has been said about her on these comments, this is why we are so proud of her. We just love her. She is so addicting, you can not get enough of her. I have found her to be the most beautiful person inside and out.
Thanks Still for all your input here.
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