Interesting and in depth profile of SoS Clinton from Vogue Magazine

[rvablue]

This reporter got some really good access. I realize the article might not appeal to some, but it was an interesting read (and LONG!) and I thought I'd share:

http://www.style.com/vogue/feature/2009_December_Jonathan_Van_Meter_Profile_of_Hillary_Clinton/

[Beacool]

1. Thank you!!!

I can't wait to read it.

:hi:

I just skimmed though it.

"In Africa, where Clinton has been on long multicountry trips three times in fifteen years, she is practically a deity. (The fact that she wrote a huge best-seller, It Takes a Village, based on an African concept does not hurt.) "I love the vitality and energy of the people of Africa, almost despite the circumstances that many of them find themselves facing," she tells me. "I'm absolutely engrossed in the fact that we all came from Africa. I find that just an amazing thought. I like the positive energy that a lot of people are projecting. But I also recognize that in some of the places we visited, you really are on the thin veil of what's best and what's worst about us as human beings."

As her 24-car motorcade sped through Nairobi, thousands lined the streets. Adoring crowds of women—dancing, singing, ululating, and holding handmade signs expressing their gratitude—were present at nearly every stop. Both of the Clintons are beloved across much of the continent, but it was the women turning up to touch Hillary who were so moving. I asked one woman in Cape Town why she loved Hillary Clinton. "Because she is an African woman," she said. "She stayed with her husband, she works hard, and she keeps her family together."

One of the refrains I kept hearing from reporters was Condi would never do this. Clinton, a woman from politics, knows how to work a crowd. Sometimes her motorcade would arrive and she would jump out and just plunge right in, getting out ahead of her security team, who often looked a little panicked. She danced her funky little dance at the dinners held in her honor (as seen on YouTube). In Cape Town, she threw a party for the press and drank with the best of us, talking for more than two hours, into the night, with surprising off-the-record candor about everything from her husband to her disdain for certain world leaders. She's fun. She laughs at herself. And she is full of surprisingly sharp, pointy little retorts, barbs, and comebacks. On several occasions she drifted to the back of the plane, allowing zesty debates to flower, often asking, "What's your take?" of different reporters, who hung on her every word. One of them told me his opinion of Hillary had completely turned around: "My parents hated her, and I thought she was a bitch who surrounded herself with horrible people. But she's nice! She's really frank and blunt and funny. One time she said to me, 'We need China.' Condi would never do that. I like her." Condoleezza Rice, I was told, almost never even came out of her cabin."

Yep, that's the Hillary I know. She's a pisser off the record, particularly after a long day. That's when she let's her guard down.

:D

[tyne]

2. That....

is a great article.

[Beacool]

3. This comment from the doctor about Bush Sr. is priceless!!

There is a corollary to this aspect of Clinton that I noticed in Africa: She mothers the people around her. Janine Zacharia, a reporter for Bloomberg News, had burned herself while cooking a couple of days before the trip. As soon as Clinton saw her bandaged hand she made a fuss, asked her what happened, and wanted to know if she had everything she needed to take care of it. Another time, we were in Goma, in eastern Congo, at an outdoor press conference, and I was getting scorched under the hot sun. While Clinton was speaking, I tried to stealthily move under a tree for shade. When she was finished, she stepped off the stage and walked up to me. "Where's your hat?" she said, sounding just like my mother. "I forgot it," I said sheepishly. "Well, we'll get you one. Someone get Jonathan a hat!" On another occasion, I had foolishly eaten a salad in Liberia, and Clinton heard I was in my hotel room, very ill. The phone rang: "The secretary would like us to bring you some Cipro." A few minutes later her physician appeared at my door with drugs. She handed me the Cipro and another pill given to chemo patients so that they can stop vomiting long enough to take more drugs. "This stuff is very expensive," she said in her Texas drawl, "but we made sure to always travel with it ever since Bush, the father, puked all over the prime minister in Japan. I said, 'Not on my watch.' " After the doctor left, an aide appeared. "The secretary asked me to bring you this." It was a Sprite and a few slices of white bread.

:rofl:

[dalaigh lllama]

4. That was a great article

[tblue37]

5. The lady has absolutely blossomed as SoS. This is

really the first time that she has had an arena expansive enough for her talents and intelligence. You can tell that it agrees with her--she looks fresher and more vital than ever, and also slimmer. She is clearly enjoying the hell out of this job.

[rvablue]

6. You can tell from that bottom picture

the body language, the facial expresssions, that the President and the SoS have a respectful and warm working relationship.

[BlueMTexpat]

7. Wonderful article! And such an antidote to the Palin drivel.

That McCain even thought for one minute ... one second even ... that he could lure those who truly admire Hillary to vote for him because he chose a totally unqualified bimbo as a running mate, it only manifested his scorn and comtempt for women.
She is such a delightful and refreshing change from Condoleezza Rice.

[struggle4progress]

8. Thanks for posting! She's smart and energetic, and we're lucky to have her

[kickysnana]

9. K&R