(March 11, 2010 - Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images North America) I had planned on doing something else today, but when I was alerted that this video (and text) of Secretary of State Clinton was available, I postponed my other piece. It should be no surprise to anyone that anything like this from Hillary Clinton usurps other plans, right? Right. It is Women's History Month after all, y'all.
Anyway, Secretary Hillary Clinton was speaking to the U.N. on the Fifteenth Anniversary of the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. As you may recall (because I mention it about every other day), Hillary Clinton gave a historic speech at that conference in Beijing, one of the Top 100 Speeches of the Twentieth Century.
Without further ado, here is Secretary Clinton:
I think this may just make Top 100 Speeches of the Twenty-first Century, too. What an amazing woman she is, what a tireless advocate on behalf of women and children. Even though we are over half of the population in the world, our equality is far from achieved even still. As Secretary Clinton pointed out, in too many places, we are seen as "lesser creatures," still less educated, still receive less treat medical treatment, still on the receiving end of violence from those who are supposed to love them, or at the hands of those using violence as a means of war.
I imagine that while the need is still there, while women are still treated disparately compared to men, and as long as she is able, Secretary Clinton will be there fighting for us. Thank heavens for that, thank heavens for her. She is a priceless treasure to our country, and to the world. She is truly an inspiration.
I can't resist - whenever I listen to her speak, see her passion, her compassion, her strength, her intelligence, her warmth, and her advocacy, I am reminded of this video:
Damn right.
If you don't have time to watch the entire video, MAKE time! Ahem. I'm sorry. I meant to say, here's a LINK to the text of her speech. Read it at your leisure.
Secretary Clinton, thank you. Thank you for your continued advocacy on behalf of women and children. Thank you for continuing to bring this critical issue to the fore. It is the twenty-first century, far too long for over half of the population to be treated as equals, as fully human. But with your leadership, hopefully, prayerfully, we will be successful at long, long last...
4 comments:
Yesterday, it was all over the news about how Hillary was really pissed and made her feelings known to Netanyahu for his announcement this week of new Jewish housing in Jerusalem. When they showed the interview with her when she discussed this, she said it was a deeply negative symbol, but you can see the anger in her face. It was just the right amount of diplomacy and the tone of her voice said, "don't push your luck, Prime Minister, you don't know who you're dealing with here."
I heard NOTHING from our President on this issue. It's as if he doesn't give a flying leap what is going on. He only cares about passing that health care bill so he can salvage his Presidency...and his ego.
I wasn't too thrilled about Hillary taking that position because I knew that Obama was going to do everything he could to keep her invisible. But now I'm glad she's SOS. I feel safer with her at the helm. I was also surprised to see a lot of the remarks on Huffpost and other Obot blogs saying how glad she was on the job and praising her for her work.
Hey, ME -
Thank you for your insightful comment. You are spot on, that's for sure. She's right that she is a force to be reckoned with, and ignore that at one's peril (not in a "she's bad" kind of way, but that it is wrong to underestimate her strength kind of way).
And SHOCKING that people at HuffPo are being positive abt her. How nice it would have been had they bothered to actually vet Obama AND her during the Primary - they would have seen that she was the better candidate from the get-go.
And I hear you - I wasn't happy abt her choice, either, but I honestly feel like she is the only adult in the room. I'm glad she's there while Obama's gigantic ego throws its weight around.
And when he gets tired of having to show up for work every day, she'll be there then, too. That makes me happy indeed!
Rev. Amy- Another thing I was thinking about, it wasn't only Obama who kept his mouth shut on this issue with Netanyahu, but Hillary talked about how "disappointed" (i.e. pissed!) that the decision on the announcement of the Jewish housing happened when Biden was in the country and that it was an affront to him and our country. But when I heard her say it and then heard nothing from Obama, I also realized that Biden came off looking like a little boy hiding behind his mother's skirt because he also said nothing. If he did, I didn't see anything in the press.
Like you said, she's the only grown up in the room.
Excellent observation, Mary Ellen. I remember shuddering when I heard he was there giving them a talking-to, I thought, "ohmygosh - they are letting this buffoon go speak to people like that??"
So, yes you are right - they had to leave it to Hillary to deal with, as usual.
Great comment!
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