Hillary Clinton: Having the Time of Her Life

Almost a year into the Obama Administration, everyone’s getting a report card, and that includes America’s Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is featured in the December issue of Vogue, and is dissected in major media this month.

Jonathan Van Meter traveled with Secretary Clinton this summer in Africa and again in New York during the United Nations General Assembly.

I’m not one for starting the conversation with color and style, but this is RedTracker and Van Meter is writing for Vogue.

Loving Clinton in red, Vogue also picks up the theme. Sometimes the color/mood connection was made overt: One morning, as her motorcade arrived at the U.N. for a panel on violence against women and girls, she stepped out of a shiny black luxury sedan in a red suit and was met by Esther Brimmer, her Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, also wearing red. “Good morning, Esther,” said Clinton. “I see you got the color memo.” via Vogue.com

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, center, shares a lighter moment with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, right, prior to a media conference after an EU-US Troika meeting at the EU Council building in Brussels on Friday March 6, 2009. Standing left is European Commission for External Relations Benita Ferrero Waldner.Looking for new insights into Clinton, it’s important to pause over an old one: Hillary plays very well with other people. Some view her team spirit as a sign of weakness, but I was so impressed to hear Clinton and Defense Secretary Gates together on CNN, that I felt a rare moment of security in a world blowing up — not only with bombs —  but with loud rhetoric, empty promises, and big egos demanding to be heard.

Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates together are such a breath of fresh air.

Hillary Clinton in Indonesia, Feb. 2009Somwhere out of the Obama campaign, we got the idea that Hillary only appealed to the over 40 crowd. But NBC News chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd says that the students at George Washington University — scene of the CNN Gates/Clinton invertiew — treated her like a rock star.

Seeming to acknowledge her superstar status, Clinton made a crack at the very end of the proceedings, saying that Gates had served most of his 43 years in public service “in secret” (referring to his CIA days). “And I have no secrets.” The crowd roared with laughter.  via Vogue.com

Once Clinton accepted that she wouldn’t get the presidential nomination, her behavior was 110% of the Democratic party and for America.

Bingo. First new factoid in the Clinton interview. The Secretary of State’s plane is no Air Force One, but it’s a pretty sweet ride. A reconfigured U.S. Air Force Boeing 757 that seats about 40 passengers, it is outfitted with a cabin for the secretary that is both an office and a bedroom. (Everyone wants to know: How does she do it? Turns out Clinton is a champion sleeper: She naps on command; she is impervious to jet lag.)

Many American women say they lost respect when Hillary didn’t leave Bill. I never felt that way, believing that everyone’s marriage is their own private business, unless someone’s getting abused. The Clintons have a global philanthropic and values-driven agenda that smacks of the one now embraced by Bill and Melinda Gates. They share an adored daughter, and by every account are very good friends. By the definition of the annals of history and royal marriages, they may even have a really good one. Who are we to judge?

Writing that Hillary is also a rock star in Africa and has been for many years, Van Meter describes her reception in Nairobi: 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.”

Granted, in our International Women’s Rights channel, we report on the downside of staying with one’s husband, as if it’s typically a choice. But American women are wrong to judge Hillary on this issue. The Europeans are much more circumspect on affairs, although President Clinton’s judgements on the particulars remains appaling.

I’m getting to the sexy part — we did officially make Hillary Clinton a Smart Sensuality woman months ago.

This moment, Vogue is writing about the motherly side of Madame Secretary.  Man writer is sick in Africa, having eaten a salad that any veteran traveler knows not to do.

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. via Vogue.com

The writer of “It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Reach Us” clearly has a caretaker mentality. Perhaps she’s been a bit more reserved in the PDA department, but now that Clinton’s a bonafide Smart Sensuality woman, even that’s changing.

Hillary Clinton shares a joke with Britain’s ‘vibrant and attractive’ foreign secretary. Photograph: Frantzesco Kangaris/EPAThe buzz — no the sizzle over the Vogue interview — came around Clinton’s comments about her new British foreign secretary colleague, David Miliband. When I mentioned to her over lunch that I had spoken with him, she lit up. “Oh, my God!” I joked that I got a crush over the phone in about five seconds partly because of his accent, and she said, “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!”  via Vogue.com

Clinton at dinner with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband (on her left): The pair were seen laughing and joking together Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1159941/So-whats-frilly-Diana-jacket-Hillary-Clinton-channels-Princesss-look-dinner-Miliband.html#ixzz0XcF1qaOlFor his part, Miliband seems smitten, too. “She applies intellect but also psychology to the dossiers that she’s studying. She uses her experience in a very impressive way. She brings it to bear in a way that enriches a conversation but doesn’t swamp it. She learns from history without being trapped by it. I think it’s also important to say that she’s delightful to deal with one on one. She’s someone who laughs and can tease, and she’s got perspective as well.” via Vogue.com

David Miliband Hillary Clinton leave after speaking to the press. Photograph: Nicholas Khamm/AFP/Getty ImagesFor all the young women who can’t understand the attraction of a super guy to a woman 10 years or more older than he is, read carefully. As I’ve written more than once, it’s a trend. If he already has a first family and doesn’t want or need another, then read very carefully.

As much as writer Kevin West wrote a patronizing and ultimately undercutting interview of Demi Moore, Jonathan Van Meter did the opposite with Hillary Clinton. The end of the article focuses on why Hillary has become such a role model for women, and please read his explanations.

I was captivated by his description of the last scene of his interview with Clinton, and you should be, too: Two hours later, my phone rings. Clinton would like to do the interview, the one that I’ve been requesting throughout the trip, now. I am picked up in my room and taken to an empty restaurant. A table is moved and staged, just for us. She comes into the room and is…a different person. For the first time in eleven days, she is no longer the Secretary of State, with coiffed hair and a brightly colored suit on. She is Hillary, a woman who just went for a swim in the ocean. Her hair, still wet, is pulled back with a white braided headband. She is wearing a navy blazer with white piping on the lapel and a silver-and-pearl choker. She is radiant. When I tell her she looks pretty, her thank-you is so heartfelt that I blush. Everyone around her—her staff, the press—talks about how she has become more attractive with age and that photographs do not tell the story. When you are around her you are constantly struck by her charisma, her vitality, her confidence. Everywhere she goes people tell her that she is prettier in person. It never ceases to amaze her staff. “People think it’s a compliment,” says one aide. “And then when they walk away, she’s like, ‘Well, what did they think before they met me?’ “  via Vogue.com

Call it a celebrity struck puff piece if you wish. I think it was a really great interview for a woman who deserves it. Bravo! Anne

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