Hillary Clinton had a great day today, and doesn't care who knows it.
Like many, I had been pretty concerned about Hillary's foreign policy ideas. Her public facing policy in 2008 was... less than good. Her hawkishness, relative to the rest of the democratic party was well recognized, and to be fair, somewhat earned.
I'm very pleased to see that the State Department seems to have mellowed her out a bit.
Hillary was in Iowa City today at a library speaking to potential caucus goers, and if you're not so far down the Bernie train (know your audience), you should give it a listen. It was an open mic event, and after her speech, she took a variety of questions. Most were about domestic policy - about schools, the economy, etc. But one that really caught my attention was a fellow who stood up and - leading off - said "this isn't going to be an easy question."
He asked about the tendency of U.S. presidents to use military force across the world - and he wanted to know Hillary's stance on the matter. Her answer couldn't have been more perfect.
She acknowledged that she has been on all sides of that particular issue - she voted for AUMF (yes, yes I know), sanctions, etc., along with the rest of her party. And then she flipped the table over.
As Secretary of State, the Obama administration's policy towards diplomacy really changed her own outlook. More than having economic, social and societal policy dragged kicking and screaming behind a military "boots on the ground mentality," Clinton says she recognized that it was often better to go with diplomacy first - and only in extreme cases utilize military force. She acknowledged the funding dimension of Military vs. State Department budgets, but where possible, Hillary pushed State to focus more on diplomacy than ever before.
I actually have a bit of a personal story to tell about this as well. I once spoke to the State Department's undersecretary of energy and environment (or science and technology - I don't recall which) - which was all kinds of revealing for a variety of different reasons - but one thing really stuck out to me.
When Hillary was the Secretary - she was very effective. She would approach negotiations with a completely female team - and it would always spook the other side. The undersecretary went on - Hillary's tenure was one of marked progress on women's rights, on LGBT, etc., and to a certain extent remade the State Department into a more functional entity.
Then, it just gets better.
Overflow crowds kept many people out of the event (somewhere between 200-300 in the room), but after answering questions, Hillary went outside and talked with everyone who stayed in line and wanted to hear her.
Apparently that took awhile, but then it was on to CNN, where Brianna Keilar decided to show everyone just how ridiculous national press treats her. Instead of talking about any of the issues facing voters in the near future - the affordable care act, foreign policy, the economy, Keilar decided to make her interview all about CNN and the press.
Paraphrased, it boiled down to "scandal? scandal? scandal? gaffe? gaffe!" Yet Clinton didn't give the press what they wanted. Simply put, the questions at the library event were better than anything Brianna came up with. In both, though, Hillary looked like she was having fun, and was in control.
I enjoyed watching and listening to Hillary today, and I suspect she enjoyed campaigning. I'm looking forward to seeing more of her as campaign season gets underway.
Hat Tip to Operculum for the local news story. I'll figure out embeds one of these days!
5:39 PM PT: And the press scrum video. I'm keeping an eye out for the whole thing, but so far no luck. I suspect the Hillary youtube channel will have it up eventually.