Clinton’s happy to be out of the running
Former U.S. senator and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton says she is done seeking votes.
Clinton, who is secretary of state under President Barack Obama, said on Sunday she is not planning to run again for president or any other political office.
“I am very happy doing what I’m doing, and I am not in any way interested in or pursuing anything in elective office,” the former U.S. first lady told “Fox News Sunday.”
Her comments followed Washington speculation that Obama might tap her for vice president when he seeks re-election in 2012 and move Vice President Joe Biden to the State Department. The White House and Biden denied such reports.
After eight years in the White House as the wife of President Bill Clinton, Clinton won two terms as a U.S. senator from New York before losing the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination to Obama.
”I love what I’m doing,” Clinton said. “I am committed to doing what I can to advance the security, the interests and the values of the United States of America.”
Steven Chu: Energy Secretary, Nobel Laureate, Zombie
You sort of have to like a U.S. cabinet secretary and Nobel Prize winner who knows how to have a little fun while getting out a message.
That would be Steven Chu, who posted a picture of himself as a green-faced, blood-dripping zombie on his Facebook page. Just in time for Washington’s scrupulously-observed Halloween weekend, Chu used his own zombification as a platform to point out power-sucking appliances — energy vampires, he called them.
“Garlic doesn’t work against these vampires,” Chu wrote. “But by taking some simple steps – like using power strips or setting your computer to go into sleep mode – you can protect yourself, and your wallet.” Then he linked to the Energy Department’s “energy star” page .
Perhaps it’s a profile-raising approach?
Chu’s got nearly 15,000 Facebook followers but he’s near the bottom of a recent accounting in Politico about which cabinet secretaries can claim the highest media profile. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tops the list, based on how often her name showed up in major newspapers, network evening television news shows, the White House blog and its Flickr feed in the last year. Only Gary Locke, Hilda Solis, Shaun Donovan and Eric Shinseki ranked lower than Chu (you can see which departments they lead by clicking on the link in this paragraph).
But how did Chu come up with the zombie angle? Turns out that my alert colleague Tom Doggett, who reports on energy issues, saw the zombified version of Chu online last week and passed it along to Energy Department spokeswoman Stephanie Mueller. To soften the blow, Tom urged her to tell Chu not to take it personally: “I hear (Interior Secretary Ken) Salazar looks much worse.” She wrote back: “Your email inspired a Facebook posting … The Secretary loved the zombie website. Be sure to check out his Facebook page.”
And even though Halloween has passed, you can still see what you’d look like undead by going here .
Special Relationship? How quickly they forget….
So much for “Hilly-Milly”.
Just last year U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gushed to Vogue magazine about former British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, calling the young diplomat a dashing addition to the international scene.
“Well, if you saw him it would be a big crush. I mean, he is so vibrant, vital, attractive, smart. He’s really a good guy. And he’s so young!” Clinton said in remarks that provoked a spate of joking British tabloid headlines about the new “special relationship” between the United States and Britain.
Well, absence doesn’t appear to have made the heart grow any fonder. Asked on Wednesday if she had any advice for Miliband following his decision to bow out of frontline politics after losing a Labour Party leadership contest to his younger brother, Clinton was brief.
“I have no advice for anyone in politics. I’m out of politics. I obviously wish him well and I am very intrigued by the interesting political dynamics that are occuring inside the United Kingdom,” Clinton said, before launching into a positive assessment of the state of relations with Britain’s current government.
Asked again if she had any farewell words for Miliband, Clinton finally managed a few: “I enjoyed working with him and wish him well.”
It was left to visiting German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle to sum up Miliband’s exit from the international diplomatic round robin, where new faces appear in the wake of every big election.
Mum’s the word on Clinton family wedding
“My lips are sealed… I’m under strict orders not to talk about it,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton revealed in an NBC interview.
The “it” she’s referring to is not a state secret. “It” is the upcoming wedding of Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of the secretary of state and former President Bill Clinton.
The publicity-shy Chelsea and fiance Marc Mezvinsky are getting married at the end of the month. Plans for the wedding are a closely guarded secret. And mother is following orders — no details divulged here.
“It is her’s and it is a family wedding and the people coming are her friends and people that have been meaningful in her life,” the mother of the bride (MOTB) disclosed during a break from diplomacy on a visit to Pakistan.
A lengthy New York Times article on Sunday shed little light on the subject. An unidentified Clinton family friend told the newspaper that Chelsea ” just wants to have a wedding.”
This much is known (or at least reported): Chelsea and Marc Mezvinsky are getting married at the end of the month, most likely somewhere in the Hudson Valley region of New York and the guest list probably numbers in the hundreds.
To those who are still waiting for an invitation, give up. It’s not going to happen, MOTB said using more diplomatic language.
Michelle Obama almost inaugurates Hillary
Michelle Obama paid a visit to the State Department on Wednesday for a ceremony honoring courageous women from around the world — and almost went overboard in the honorifics for her host, Hillary Clinton.
“This is indeed a pleasure and an honor to be here with all of you, you all look fabulous!” Obama told a roomful of honorees for the International Women of Courage Awards, an annual event.
Turning to Clinton — her husband’s erstwhile rival for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination — Obama kept up the good cheer.
“Let me thank my dear friend Senator Clinton….no, Secretary Clinton,” Obama said. Realizing her mistake, she allowed an exaggerated pause.
“I almost said President Clinton!”
That got a rise out of the group, which cheered and laughed as Clinton smilingly waved away the mistake.
Obama thanked Clinton for her “indispensable” advice on coming to grips with life in Washington, and said she had set the bar high for future First Ladies.
This was a wonderful cultivation to developing creative democratic example for women around the world.
Holbrooke jokes about Kerry’s Karzai eclipse
Power plays are always a tricky business in Washington and sometimes it’s better to make a joke out of it. Or not.
Special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, used that tactic on Friday when asked about reports that veteran Senator John Kerry is stealing his limelight.
“I’d like to make a joke and say, ‘I’m always happy to be eclipsed by John Kerry.’ But then you’ll take it seriously and then I’ll cause more problems,” Holbrooke told reporters.
Kerry was in Kabul earlier this week with a mission to convince incumbent President Hamid Karzai to agree to a run-off election after the flawed first round in August. Apparently Holbrooke was also working the phones as was U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
But it was Kerry who grabbed the headlines, prompting journalists to question whether he was the de facto secretary of state and key player when it came to dealing with Karzai.
While Kerry was prodding Karzai in Kabul, Holbrooke said he was in Washington helping Clinton prepare for meetings with President Barack Obama as he reviews U.S. strategy on Afghanistan. Holbrooke’s last visit to Kabul was in August when he met several times with Karzai. Some of those meetings were said to be heated.
But on Friday, Holbrooke brushed aside talk of strained relations with Karzai, saying they got along just “fine,” he had “respect” for the Afghan leader and looked forward to seeing him soon.
The First Draft: Clinton spills the beans?
After being upstaged by her own boss as she announced a new Sudan policy on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a special effort to let the media know she had a secret: after much pressure and delay Afghan President Hamid Karzai would announce on Tuesday how he planned to handle his country’s disputed elections.
Clinton, who already had a briefing with the media in the morning to talk about Sudan, made a brief statement alongside Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Then she walked him out of the room and came back and invited a question about Afghanistan.
It was then that Clinton mentioned that Karzai would be making an announcement on Tuesday, though she said she did not wish to preempt the Afghan leader’s news.
But her comment that she was “encouraged at the direction the situation is moving” suggested she expected the Afghan president to accept a run-off in the Aug. 20 election, which has been marred by allegations of widespread fraud.
Sure enough, on Tuesday in Kabul, Karzai welcomed a second round runoff against former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah.
The drawn-out voting process has complicated Obama’s deliberations on whether to send thousands more troops to help out in the eight-year-old war.
With friends like Hamid and Hillary, Obama doesn’t need enemies.
How you like me now?!
Remember during the presidential campaign, when Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton was asked about her “likability” compared to that of rival Barack Obama?
The inference was that people didn’t like her as much as they liked him, even after he told her during a presidential debate: “You’re likable enough.”
That was then.
This is now.
Secretary of State Clinton is more popular (or can we just say likable) than President Obama, according to a Gallup poll released on Thursday.
Clinton is viewed favorably by 62 percent of Americans, just three points below her rating in January. Obama’s favorable rating has fallen 22 points from 78 percent in January to land at 56 percent.
Here’s a look back at that moment in New Hampshire in 2008, when Clinton’s likability was in question.
the americans (specilly this woman) are the top terrorist in the world. really is true
Hill has always impressed me as one smart cookie, even when she was uttering nonsense about right-wing conspiracies. She is still young as Washington politicos go, and is positioning herself brilliantly. Right now she is about the most popular national politician in the country:
http://www.pollingreport.com/C2.htm#Hill ary
She has the left, she needs the middle, and the middle admires competence and ability. Palin/Gingrich/et al can have all the right they want and still not win.
She has no intention of abandoning a political career. They’re both addicts.