Why Hillary Clinton Will Restore America's Standing in the World
The authors argue that Senator Obama is the best candidate to restore America's standing and authority based on his "transformative personality, personal history and appeal."
Here's why they are wrong.
While personal appeal and oratorical skill are certainly helpful in building diplomatic ties and conveying goodwill, they aren't a substitute for strong relationships and demonstrated leadership on the international stage. And as valuable as Senator Obama's Kenyan roots and childhood in Indonesia are, these experiences are not, in fact, indicators of diplomatic skill or the knowledge of global affairs needed to navigate international relations in our treacherous world.
By contrast, Hillary Clinton has been practicing public diplomacy for years and is widely respected around the world for her longtime commitment to international development, human rights and America's global leadership.
During the years that Hillary Clinton served as first lady, she became a symbol of America's human face and the values we cherish as a people. In an unprecedented role, she traveled to more than eighty countries to highlight the importance of investing in people. She gave voice to those living on the margins of society, particularly women and children, but also the poor. She put a spotlight on US development programs that offered solutions to pressing problems like infectious diseases, illiteracy, and economic marginalization. She advanced important causes -- from microcredit to global health initiatives -- with an array of foreign leaders, international organizations, and grass roots activists. And she also talked to Americans about why these investments were critical to expanding our influence and enhancing our own security.
Hillary Clinton traveled to places no first lady had ever gone, and where presidents can't go. Visits to some of the most troubled places around the world certainly offered her a measure of exposure and acculturation that she would carry with her to the presidency.
While her oratory may not be as soaring as Senator Obama's, her words helped galvanize a global women's rights movement. Her now famous speech in Beijing at the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 -- which declared that "human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights" -- became a call to action to millions of women who joined together in a common purpose - the struggle for women's rights and human rights on a global scale.
Given her status as one of the world's most visible champions of these causes, it's not surprising that thousands waited through the night to hear her speak in the Philippines; that men and women stood ten deep along the streets in Mongolia to salute her when she traveled there; that the residents of Soweto danced in the streets awaiting her visit to their township.
Indeed, Hillary is today a familiar and beloved presence in many parts of the world. A street in a housing project where she helped squatters in South Africa was named after her. So was a clinic in Eritrea, a village in Bangladesh, and a school in Romania. When she arrived in Nicaragua after a devastating hurricane had hit, women held up a banner in Spanish that said: "Welcome to Hillary, the ambassador to the poor."
Perhaps as relevant today is her stature in the Muslim world. Having traveled extensively in the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia, she conducted vigorous outreach to diverse religious groups and convened leaders of different faiths to work together on religious tolerance and ways to combat extremism.
In 1999, a plaque was dedicated at the US Agency for International Development to recognize Hillary's leadership on global issues.
It said, "May all who pass through these portals recognize the invaluable contributions to worldwide development made by the First Lady of the US, Hillary Clinton." The Bush Administration had the plaque removed. Plaque or not, her legacy around the world endures in the hearts and minds of millions of people for whom she was an embodiment of America at its very best. That is what Hillary Clinton would bring to the presidency.
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This would have been a compelling blog if only it was about Al Gore.
But apparently it's not.
As others here have noted, it sounds ALMOST like satire in light of the current events surrounding the Billary campaign.
Even ardent supporters like Rahm Emmanuel and longtime friends like Ted Kennedy are appalled.
By the way, on behalf of women over 50 - and I'm one of 'em - we are not all going to vote for Hillary. I'm not as interested in woman ascending to the same powerful positions in the world as I am in changing the nature of how we use power altogether. Obama and Edwards have a better handle on that vision. It's a WE thing!
I am sorry but were you in a comma since the first term of Clintons? All we need is another Dynasty like the Bushes. They mocking us in the world for not having a real democracy, and you think electing from the same family is going to make that better.
We'll become the joke of the world, if Hillary in the office. With Bill indiscretion and Bush and Clintons being the only family running the US in the pat 2 decades we lose all credibility in the world.
The two candidates who will do anything but restore our standings are HRC and RG.
Anything would be better than the current Hamfisted, Bull in a China Shop Circus that the current Regime is trying to pass off as diplomacy.
The authors apparently buy into the whole "Obama is a rock star, but.." meme..the flimsiest excuse for analysis displaying a sense of disregard for the intelligence of a large segment of Americans.
Obama speaks with clarity and force and because the words are truthful and bold, people are excited. This is a good thing. Remember that Democrats had to deal with the reality of a population disinterested in politics just a few years ago. This is how it looks to have an enthused, involved movement.
..and 'ol Bill and Hill don't like that because it means they don't automatically get to bring their UHauls up Pennsylvania Avenue next January.
The Clintons have shown their nastiness.
Care to look at their legislative and executive records now? Start with NAFTA and move through to both Clintons supporting the Iraq war.
The problem with Hillary as the Democratic nominee is the electability issue in the general election. She is too polarizing. I see Independents voting for McCain and progressive voters not voting at all. She does not inspire young voters to vote. Given the fact that she voted for the Iraq war, she will not be able to challenge McCain's pro-war stance. McCain also has more experience that Hillary does, so he doesn't have to use questionable "35" years of life experience argument. I know lots of young voters who is willing to suffer 4 years of McCain just to get rid of DNC power-couple of Billary.
Restore America's standing? Children? Human Rights?
Hillary Clinton voted for the war in Iraq that has killed half a million innocent people. She voted for Kyl-Lieberman. She supported Israel's barbaric attack on Lebanon, condemned the UN (Protesting in front of the UN twice with right wing groups)for challenging the legality of Israel's seperation barrier with the occupied West Bank and challenged the credibility of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International for criticizing the policies and tactics used (such as cluster bombs) against civilian populated areas in Lebanon.
This woman opposed the International Treaty to ban land mines, opposed restrictions on U.S. arms sales to Governments that engage in systematic human rights abuses, voted against The Child Soldier Prevention Act, which would prohibit military aid to Governments that use child soldiers in it's military or paramilitary forces and was one of only a handful of Democrats to vote against Senator Leahy's Amendment restricting U.S. exports on cluster bombs to countries that use them against civilian populated areas (BTW, Leahy had dozens of co-sponsors including Obama).
It was no different when her husband was president. A million innocent Iraqi's died (many children) from sanctions that were condemned the world over and even U.S. military and intelligence officers were using words such as "immoral" and "sadistic" to describe what was happening to innocent Iraqis. Kosovo now has one of the largest military bases in world (run by KBR) and it was the Clintons that introduced the world to "extraordinary rendition", the practice of kidnapping and torture.
Yeah, they would "restore" our image in the world, the family that calls Poppy Bush "DAD".
What garbage!
As a life long Democrat, I can no longer take the Clinton lies and sleeze. America needs a new direction.
"Hillary Clinton traveled to places no first lady had ever gone, and where presidents can't go."
There's something about that sentence that just doesn't sound right-- I mean the second part. Maybe presidents can't go into certain countries because of security reasons or due to official diplomatic policies-- but I kind of get the impression an American president can go wherever she or he wants to go.
Hillary is a hero for many, but this essay paints her as as a god(dess). Maybe goes too far.
This is a joke, right?
More than half the people in this country actively dislike her, including a large number who've voted Democrat all their lives. What makes you think she'll be more popular abroad -- except, perhaps, among non-English speakers who cannot fully savor the stench of her triangulation, corruption, and lies?
TO: Lissa Muscatine and Melanne Verveer
A good post with a positive portrayal regarding Hillary and some of the things she has accomplished.
After looking at some of the comments, it seems a shame that people can't post their views about Hillary as well as about Obama in a positive manner. Too many bloggers seem to have forgotten about issues and jump right to personal criticisms.
Maybe it would be more helpful if everyone stepped back and realized that we are fortunate to have Democratic candidates who are all intelligent and worth consideration. Edwards has hardly been heard from in this upheaval. That is a real shame.
Is this a joke? Seriously, it sounds like an April Fools' prank. Billary divided its own party! How can there be the slightest inclination that Billary's third term would be any less reckless than its second?
Do we not recall impeachment, lying to investigators and an open jail door on the final day for lawless friends and family?
Nor mine. Literally billions of people around the world revile America today because of the arrogance, militarism and cowboy diplomacy of the Bush Administration. The crowning jewel of that policy has been the Iraq debacle. Your "new face of America" positioned herself squarely in support of that blunder and has never looked back. Never had the maturity to take responsibility for HER role in bringing about abject suffering of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens.
HRC will not "restore" America's standing in the world. She "is" America's standing in the world.
It seems I am being censured because this is my second attempt to state the following. Finally, a pro-Hillary post on this website. We have a very delicate and grave situation on our hands in this country. Bush and his crime family have done nothing right and have destroyed our economy, our credibility and our honor. We need someone tried and true, not a novice. Hillary is not perfect but she is smart, very competent and has the contacts, the respect of the world, and she has a backup-Bill to help get us out of this mess. I am not willing to take a risk with Obama or Edwards. Next time around, maybe. And those who will vote Rep. instead of voting for Hillary, remember this. Hillary will give us something, the Republicans will give us nothing. We will continue to decline into "turd" world status.
I love it! The supporters of Mr Hope and Change who think he is so inspiring and transcendental are the most hate-spewing posters on the net! They love to degrade Hillary in every way all the time.
I think Hillary will make a great president and I will do everything I can to help get her elected but I don't feel the need to disparage Obama at every turn even though I have strong feelings of why I don't like him or want him as president, ever.
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