Hillary Clinton is not just sleeping in as new website indicates desire to stay in the spotlight…

If she’s planning on a presidential run there are few clues to be gleaned from Clinton’s freshly launched website HillaryClintonOffice.com.

She’s the picture of presidential ambition.

Just days after becoming a private citizen, Hillary Clinton is stoking speculation about running for President in 2016 by launching a mysterious new website that boldly features her in an attention-grabbing photo.

A mass e-mail sent Tuesday by her husband Bill Clinton and their daughter Chelsea is adding to the speculation: It urges recipients to “thank Hillary for making our country and our world, stronger, safer and better.”

PHOTOS: HILLARY CLINTON’S BEST MOMENTS

“She inspires us every day — and we hope she inspires you, too. Please take a moment to send Hillary your personal note of thanks,” it adds, providing a link for fans to do just that.

When Hillary Clinton stepped down Friday after four grueling years as secretary of state, it was assumed that she would relax and recharge while contemplating her next move.

Her friend Ann Lewis fueled that notion, telling NBC that Clinton would “take some time, put her feet up, take a nap.”

RELATED: HILLARY CLINTON OFFICIALLY STEPS ASIDE FROM SECRETARY OF STATE POST, KERRY SWORN IN

So much for retirement.

The website and e-mail show that Clinton already has given great thought to the future — and that she wants to keep the option open of running for the White House, political consultants said.

“These are not the kind of things you do if you want to fade quietly into the night,” said Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf.

RELATED: BILL CLINTON: AFTER NEW TESTS, HILLARY IS ‘DOING MUCH BETTER’

“It’s a long time between now and 2016,” he added, “and she can use this to create a candidacy, make people think she’s creating a candidacy or simply maintain her power. It’s a perfect strategic move.”

The new website emerged with no fanfare. Visitors to HillaryClinton.com, the remnant of campaigns past, were presented with a link directing them to the new address, HillaryClintonOffice.com, which was registered Thursday, 24 hours before Clinton left the State Department.

“It’s a long time between now and 2016,” he added, “and she can use this to create a candidacy, make people think she’s creating a candidacy or simply maintain her power. It’s a perfect strategic move.”

Speculation is running running wild after Clinton launched the new site as people are questioning if she’s planning a run to become the leader of the free world.

The new website emerged with no fanfare. Visitors to HillaryClinton.com, the remnant of campaigns past, were presented with a link directing them to the new address, HillaryClintonOffice.com, which was registered Thursday, 24 hours before Clinton left the State Department.

Aides did not disclose when Clinton posed for the smiling glamour shot at the new site. Clinton is not wearing the thick glasses she has sported in recent weeks to counter the double vision she suffered as a result of a concussion in December.

RELATED: HILLARY NOT THINKING ABOUT 2016 PRESIDENCY

The site also contains a contact form for visitors to fill out — allowing Clinton to add to her already robust mailing list.

Clinton aides downplayed the site’s significance, insisting that it is simply a way for fans and the media to reach Clinton now that she is out of office.

The mass e-mail was sent by her husband’s nonprofit foundation to its subscribers.

Analysts said that even if Hillary Clinton is inclined not to run again, the e-mail and website are smart politically.

“There is no downside. It’s always good for people to think that you might run,” said Hunter College Prof. Kenneth Sherrill.

“Should she want to endorse a candidate or … raise money for a cause she cares about, this is an extraordinary resource. At the very least, it’s a sign she’ll remain active in politics.”

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If you would like to leave a note Thanking Hillary for her service to the country, please do so in comments.

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Exclusive: Clinton returning to work next week

Thursday, December 27, 2012 – 5:06 PM

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will return to the State Department next week after three weeks of recovery from a stomach virus and a related concussion, The Cable has confirmed.

Clinton’s ongoing recovery will still prevent her from flying abroad, but will allow plans to move forward for her to testify in open hearing on the Sept. 11 attack on Benghazi, testimony that she was unable to give — as per her doctor’s orders — on Dec. 20. Her return to a public schedule could also end the weeks of conspiracy theorizing and wild speculation about whether or not she was faking or misrepresenting her illness to avoid testifying.

“The secretary continues to recuperate at home. She had long planned to take this holiday week off, so she had no work schedule. She looks forward to getting back to the office next week and resuming her schedule,” Clinton aide Philippe Reines told The Cable.

Reines declined to say whether Clinton was at her Washington home or her house in Chappaqua, New York, but he said she did spend the holidays with her family. There’s no definite schedule for her Benghazi testimony, but she has pledged to appear before both House and Senate foreign relations committees in January.

Since Dec. 9, when Clinton’s stomach illness was first disclosed as the reason she pulled out of a planned trip to the Middle East and North Africa, a torrent of conservative pundits and media outlets have suggested or outright accused her of avoiding the public eye. Insinuations that Clinton was faking or exacerbating her illness to avoid the Benghazi issue came from the Weekly Standard, the New York Post, the Daily Caller, hosts on Fox News’s evening shows, Rep. Allen West (R-FL), the conservative website Pajamas Media, the Investors’ Business Daily website, conservative blogger Lucianne Goldberg, and others.

The National Enquirer actually claimed that Clinton was suffering from brain cancer. “Considering the source I can’t believe we even have to say this. But it’s absolute nonsense,” Reines said.

Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton became the highest-ranking former government official to publicly accuse Clinton of faking her illness on Dec. 18.

“Every Foreign Service officer in every foreign ministry in the world knows the phrase that I’m about to use. When you don’t want to go to a meeting or a conference or an event, you have a ‘diplomatic illness.’ And this is a diplomatic illness to beat the band,” Bolton said.

“I certainly hope it’s nothing serious, but this was revealed in a way that I think that was not transparent, and I think there is an obligation here, especially if Secretary Clinton decides to run for president, to indicate what happened,” Bolton said. “She may beat testifying this week, but she’s not going to escape it forever.”

Bolton’s accusation came three days after Clinton’s doctors, Lisa Bardack of the Mt. Kisco Medical Group and Gigi El-Bayoumi of the George Washington University, issued a detailed statement about the secretary’s injuries.

“Secretary Clinton developed a stomach virus, leading to extreme dehydration, and subsequently fainted. Over the course of this week we evaluated her and ultimately determined she had also sustained a concussion. We recommended that the Secretary continue to rest and avoid any strenuous activity, and strongly advised her to cancel all work events for the coming week,” they said.

But Bolton accused Clinton of a pattern of avoiding the public that predated her illness and concussion. “The secretary has stayed out of the limelight ever since the attack of Sept. 11,” he said.

In fact, Clinton held 14 press availabilities and gave nine separate press interviews between Sept. 12 and Dec. 7, when she fell ill. She also briefed the full House and the full Senate Sept. 20 on Benghazi.

In an e-mail to The Cable Thursday, Bolton explained that his comments on Clinton’s illness were meant to highlight the administration’s lack of openness about her medical condition.

“A fair listener would understand that my central point was the lack of transparency about her status,” Bolton said. “Such a lack of transparency cannot be sustained in a presidential campaign, for example, where observers might infer that her condition was worse than it actually was. That’s what I said, fair and balanced.”

In addition to the Dec. 15 doctor’s statement, the State Department has issued four separate statements on Clinton’s health, on Dec. 9, 10, 15 and 19. Thursday’s statement to The Cable marks the fifth time Clinton’s representatives have spoken on the record about her progress outside of the State Department briefing room. In a background quote to ABC news Dec. 17, a U.S. official went into even more detail.

“According to the official, the secretary had two teams of doctors, including specialists, examine her. They also ran tests to rule out more serious ailments beyond the virus and the concussion. During the course of the week, Clinton was on an IV drip and being monitored by a nurse, while also recovering from the pain caused by the fall,” ABC reported.

Top GOP lawmakers have rallied to Clinton’s defense. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told The Cable that he believes Clinton has been honest and forthright about her medical condition.

“I have no doubts that Secretary Clinton has been ill and suffered a concussion. I know she will testify and statements to the contrary are misplaced,” said Graham.

In a press conference last week, Graham said he wants Clinton to testify on Benghazi before she steps down from office, but reiterated that her illness was real and serious.

“To those who suggest that she’s dodging her responsibilities because she’s not sick, I think that’s inappropriate and not true,” Graham said. “I know she’s sick now. I know she is not appearing because she really is ill.”

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) acknowledged the veracity of Clinton’s illness at her Dec. 20 hearing and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) also backed Clinton up in a Dec. 19 Fox News appearance.

“I must say, I have never seen Secretary Clinton back down from a fight. And I have never seen her back down. And I believe that she is now not physically well enough to testify and she will testify the middle of January,” he said.

Outrage over the charge that Clinton has been misleading the American public about her illness extends well past Washington. The NFL Players Association, apparently concerned about the seeming trivialization of similar injuries, felt compelled to weigh in and admonish those who would downplay the secretary’s ordeal.

“A concussion is a serious injury that should not be discounted or belittled for political purposes,” NFLPA Assistant Executive Director George Atallah said in a statement. “The Players Association has worked tirelessly not only to address this problem at the professional level, but to educate the general public about the risks to youths playing sports of all kinds. Efforts to raise awareness and teach prevention are undermined whenever someone dismisses the impact of a concussion. We must set a better example consistent with what we know to be the medical truth.”

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/12/27/exclusive_clinton_returning_to_work_next_week

MERRY CHRISTMAS – HAPPY HOLIDAYS 2012

SECRETARY CLINTON- HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

MANY HAPPY RETURNS on your 65th.  Birthday!

Thinking of you on your special day
and hoping the year ahead
brings all the things
you’re wishing for.

FROM ALL OF ‘US’ TO YOU~ happy birthday…

Clinton Suggests Link to al Qaeda Offshoot in Deadly Libya Attack :

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday suggested there was a link between the Qaeda franchise in North Africa and the attack at the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, that killed the American ambassador and three others. She was the highest-ranking Obama administration official to publicly make the connection, and her comments intensified what is becoming a fiercely partisan fight over whether the attack could have been prevented.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton meeting with President Mohamed Magariaf of Libya.

Mrs. Clinton did not offer any new evidence of a Qaeda link, and officials later said the question would be officially settled only after the F.B.I. completed a criminal inquiry, which could take months. But they said they had not ruled out the involvement of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb — an affiliate of the international terrorist group with origins in Algeria — in an attack the administration initially described as a spontaneous protest turned violent.

(…)

Mrs. Clinton made her remarks at a special United Nations meeting on the political and security crisis in the parts of North Africa known as the Maghreb and the Sahel, particularly in northern Mali, which has been overrun by Islamic extremists since a military coup helped lead to the division of that country this year.

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has long operated in the region, she said, and was now exploiting a haven in Mali to export extremism and terrorist violence to neighbors like Libya.

“Now with a larger safe haven and increased freedom to maneuver, terrorists are seeking to extend their reach and their networks in multiple directions,” Mrs. Clinton told leaders assembled at the meeting, including President François Hollande of France and the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon. “And they are working with other violent extremists to undermine the democratic transitions under way in North Africa, as we tragically saw in Benghazi.”

Mr. Ban called the meeting to lay the groundwork for a possible international military intervention — to be led by African troops — to help the new military government in Mali re-establish control over a part of the country that Mr. Hollande noted was the size of France and is now under the grip of Islamist extremists imposing their vision of law and order.

“We cannot stand by and allow terrorists to take over an entire territory,” Mr. Hollande said.

Top militia leaders in Benghazi have dismissed the possibility that Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb played a role in the attacks or had a foothold in eastern Libya. Benghazi residents have said they believe the brigade that conducted the attack could not have managed the assault on its own, because it included more than 100 heavily armed fighters.

Mrs. Clinton’s connection of the turmoil in the Sahel with the violence in Benghazi, which killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, echoed remarks made last week by Matthew G. Olsen, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center. He said that intelligence analysts were investigating ties between local Libyan militias and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, but had not yet come to any conclusions.

A senior administration official said that Mrs. Clinton intended to underscore the rising threat that the Qaeda affiliate and other extremist organizations pose to the emerging democratic governments in countries like Tunisia and Libya, adding that the group clearly intended to make contact with extremists in Benghazi and elsewhere. The final determination of the group’s role, the official said, would await the investigation by the F.B.I.

Mrs. Clinton has also ordered a review of diplomatic security that is being led by Thomas R. Pickering, a veteran diplomat and former undersecretary of state.

It was not clear whether Mrs. Clinton’s remarks foreshadowed any possible retaliation against those who carried out the attack, whether they operated in sympathy with, or on orders from, Al Qaeda leaders. But she reiterated the administration’s vow to bring those responsible to justice, telling the conference that American intelligence and law-enforcement agencies were working not only with Libya but with other nations in the region to investigate the attack.

The cooperation with other nations beyond Libya in the investigations also seemed to indicate that the attack’s planning and execution might have crossed international borders and not simply have been a local, spontaneous eruption of violence in response to an amateurish Internet video denigrating the Prophet Muhammad.

(…)

From the start, Libyan officials have sought to blame foreigners, even as they move to crack down on extremist militias that took part in the uprising against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi last year and clearly had a role in the attack. Mr. Magariaf said at least 40 suspects had been questioned, but there was no definitive conclusion about those involved. “It was a preplanned act of terrorism directed against American citizens,” Mr. Magariaf said in remarks broadcast on NBC’s “Today” show Wednesday.

The White House press secretary, Jay Carney, defended the administration’s evolving version of events. “Over the course of the past two weeks, this administration has provided as much information as it has been able to,” Mr. Carney told reporters traveling on Air Force One to Ohio on Wednesday. “We made clear that our initial assessment and interim reports were based on information that was available at the time.”

Read the story in it’s entirety here: NYT

SOS HILLARY CLINTON, headliner CLINTON GLOBAL INITIATIVE…

 

Hillary Clinton On Smart Diplomacy And Development For The 21st Century

September 24, 2012

by Penelope Chester, reporting-

Topics: Clinton Global Initiative; Hillary Clinton;, Diplomacy, Human Rights, U.S. Politics

The Clintons took over the stage this morning at the Clinton Global Initiative. Bill introduced Hillary, who got not one, but two standing ovations from the crowd. Kicking off the day’s proceedings, Secretary of State Clinton spoke about designing diplomacy for the 21st century. Her speech was focused on how the United States can deploy smart diplomacy strategies, that work alongside development and defense, to consolidate American interests across the world.

Clinton began by mentioning that we live in times of great change. Indeed, new technologies, significant demographic shifts – both in the developing and the developed world – revolutions and democratic transitions, and a global financial crisis that has contributed to reshaping world economies are complex realities global diplomacy has to take into account. “In the face of all this change,” Clinton said, “those who care about having an impact need to think and act innovatively.” She added that we must also “be willing to change ourselves to keep pace with the change around us, and stay true to our values, or we will lose our way.” From this broad statement, she went on to speak specifically about the benefits of elevating development and incorporating it into a global engagement strategy for the United States, together with diplomacy and defense.

Secretary Clinton spoke about how the Obama administration has done just that, and how development aid is being re-thought. In the past, “we focused on urgent and immediate needs at the expense of the long term”, Clinton said. She talked about how development aid dollars used to represent a much more significant proportion of the funds that flowed into developing nations. But, today, because of the dramatic increase in capital, remittances, trade and other flows, “we have to spend dollars differently.” And indeed, development aid should be in tune with the realities of the 21st century. Clinton mentioned how it used to be the case that development dollars needed to be spent on providing food assistance, helping building schools and in other basic areas when governments weren’t able to. Nowadays, however, given how different the global picture is, it’s necessary for development dollars to be invested in smart ways, so it can be leveraged for political change and sustainable growth.

“We want to move from aid to investment,” Clinton said. “Today, with new resources, development has to fit into a more dynamic economic picture”, she added, saying that development aid should be “a catalyst for sustainable growth and progress.” Building on World Bank president Jim Kim’s remarks yesterday about how the private sector should talk to the World Bank about investment opportunities in the developing world, Clinton said that one of the roles that American development can play is to “help mitigate and reduce investment risk.” Driving the point home, Clinton said that, today, the United States is not “just providing aid to people in crisis; we’re making strategic investments.”

Clinton painted a very modern picture of what development aid should be, and how it needs to move beyond traditional aid and working with traditional NGO partners. She spoke about how development intersects with business opportunities, and how “we need the private sector to give new economies opportunities.”

Clinton then spent some time defining what she believes “country ownership” – a jargon-y development buzzword – means. She started by clarifying what country ownership doesn’t mean: “it doesn’t mean that donors are supposed to keep money flowing while recipients decide how to spend it; it doesn’t mean shutting out the voices of civil society and faith-based groups; it doesn’t mean not letting beneficiaries do everything on their own.”

For Clinton, country ownership means that development should be “lead, implemented and increasingly paid for by government, civil society and other groups.” It means that developing countries need to “set priorities, manage resources, develop their own plans and carry them out.” She also mentioned that, in her view, country ownership means that “the whole country – men and women” are involved. “When more women enter the workforce, it spurs innovation and grows the economy – in short, everyone benefits.”

In the part of her remarks that sounded the most like a campaign speech, Clinton listed some of the development and diplomacy accomplishments of the Obama administration which further the goals detailed above: the ambitious reform of USAID under Raj Shah, the Feed the Future initiative, the development of “groundbreaking renewable energy investment vehicles” in Africa, public-private partnerships such as the Clean Cookstove Initiative. “But there is still a lot of work to do, and this is where you come in”, the Secretary of State said, speaking directly to the audience – one of her husband’s favorite rhetorical devices.

Clinton spoke of the need of development policy to invest more deeply in a broader range of partners, beyond traditional international NGOs. She spoke of the need to broaden and increase our network of partnerships to advance our work in development. “Let’s start viewing all of our separate efforts as a portfolio of complimentary investments,” Clinton exhorted, “let’s redouble our commitment to multi-partner approaches that bring all of us together.”Her speech then shifted to a more classic political speech – mentioning the need for the United States to advance freedom, rights and dignity across the world, the rejection of violence and underscoring American efforts in supporting democratic transitions in the Middle East. “We need your help and leadership”, Clinton told the audience, to spread development, dignity and freedom.

This is an important forum for Hillary Clinton to address – indeed, some of the world’s most powerful business, NGO and political leaders gather at the Clinton Global Initiative every year to discuss and explore partnership opportunities, something which is frankly only possible when Bill Clinton brings all these stakeholders together for meaningful engagement. The Secretary of State’s speech made clear that the United States and Americans need to rethink their approach to development aid: multisectoral, investment-based and results-oriented with the ultimate objectives of sustainability and long-term growth. While many of the people at the Clinton Global Initiative already know this, Hillary Clinton’s speech served to give these efforts broader meaning in the context of American foreign policy and the advancement of American goals and interests worldwide.

Photo credit: Clinton Global Initiative

LINK

Hillary Clinton- hardest working woman in the State Dept while Obama Bypasses Congress, Gives $1.5B to Muslim Brotherhood

During a trip through Colorado in December of last year, President Obama spoke of his intention to implement his economic policies with or without the approval of Congress. Said Obama, “And where Congress is not willing to act, we’re going to go ahead and do it ourselves.” It now appears that such a mindset applies not only to economic matters but to the distribution of Foreign Aid as well–in particular, Foreign Military Aid for the Muslim Brotherhood, who now hold the reigns of power in Egypt

“Nevertheless, the news breaking now is that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will soon announce that President Obama will “resume funding for Egypt’s military, despite Congressional restrictions and objections from human rights and democracy advocates.”

“Does this sound like the Hillary Clinton we know? Or has Obama’s executive power taken over every government job rolling over Congress and his Cabinet when it suits his agenda?”

We have more examples of Obama’s subversive behavior. (read on)

BREAKING: Obama White House Using George Soros Owned-Media Matters To Deflect From Fast and Furious!

Once again the Obama administration is openly expressing their links to the Far Left of America – this time using the George Soros funded Media Matters as an official government source to deflect from still-growing criticism surrounding the failed and deadly Fast and Furious gunrunning program.  In addition, new details are now emerging about a 3rd weapon found at the scene of Border Agent Brian Terry’s death – and the Obama administration’s intentional cover-up to hide that evidence.

Excerpt from a just released Washington Free Beacon report:

The Department of Justice is using the liberal “watchdog” group Media Matters for America to deflect questions about the Fast and Furious scandal, including those regarding a gun that might have been used in the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

In response to an inquiry from the Free Beacon, a Justice Department spokeswoman said in an email that she “was told to direct your questions to the FBI, and also to provide you with a link to this story: http://mediamatters.org/research/201204190011

The link was to a story at the George Soros-funded Media Matters for America supposedly refuting many of Pavlich’s claims. Media Matters is a partisan organization whose founder, David Brock, is also running a pro-Obama super PAC.

In Operation Fast and Furious, federal agents allowed more than 2,000 weapons to be smuggled across the U.S.-Mexican border and into the hand of violent drug cartels, with the intent of tracking them to learn more about the cartels.

Two weapons connected to Fast and Furious were discovered at the murder scene of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, who was gunned down in the Southern Arizona desert in 2010 by five criminals armed with AK-47s.

However, Pavlich asserts there was a third gun. The book details three separate pieces of evidence that point to a third weapon being recovered and then covered up by the FBI and the Justice Department.

Border Patrol agents, who have since been issued gag orders, were overheard at Terry’s funeral discussing the third gun.

FULL STORY HERE

Thanks to Ulsterman and Breitbart for carrying the torch enlightening America…

HAPPY EASTER… 2012

EASTER BLESSINGS TO THE CLINTON FAMILY AND TO ALL OUR READERS

Hillary’s new photo shoot for ‘Elle’ Magazine…

Hillary Clinton Talks Women, Work-Life Balance

Rachel Combe’s profile of Hillary Clinton in the May 2012 issue of Elle opens with an anecdote in which Clinton compliments Combe’s evening shoes. You could view that as another instance of a women’s magazine stereotypically lightening up a female political figure, but to Combe’s credit and Elle‘s, this is not a “light” piece. It is an homage — and an argument that we are meeting a new Hillary. Combe describes herself as a Clinton supporter and spends a good chunk of the piece chronicling the decline of “Hilary hating”: “These days Hillary Clinton seems to get standing ovations whenever she opens her mouth.”

And about the shoe comment: Combe also addresses the over-attention paid to Clinton’s appearance through the years. “Supporters will often wail for everyone to stop focusing on Clinton’s hair and clothes and listen to her ideas, but that’s sort of a backhanded compliment. (People, she’s too smart to care that she looks like crap.) The truth is, Clinton does care (she’s a bottle blond! Do you know how much work that is?)” Fair point.

For me the most interesting moment in the piece came when Clinton addressed how women with more than one child can’t possibly achieve the level of success she has — or that men do.

“Look at Nancy Pelosi! She had five children…. People — especially young women — need to rid their minds of this baggage that has been inherited. Because you can unfortunately caricature anybody: ‘Oh, she’s the woman who never wanted to get married and have children.’ Well, you don’t know what her life is like. Or, ‘She’s the woman who gave up her career and stayed home.’ Well, maybe that’s what she found most fulfilling. We have got to get beyond all of that pigeonholing.”

The beginning of the quote is slightly misleading — Pelosi didn’t enter politics until after she’d had those five children, though she was still raising some of them while in office — and Combe doesn’t mention what a 180 the comment on women giving up their careers is from the Hillary we knew 20 years ago, the one who said on Nightline in 1992 –“I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies” — and thereby repelled American homemakers.

But this is very much a portrait of the new Hillary, the one who takes time out of her day to talk to reporters about an aide’s new baby and alludes to her own pregnancy. According to Combe, “the row of male wire reporters nodded their heads, looking a shade terrified. (Oh my God, is Hillary Clinton about to tell us about her C-section?)” This is the Clinton Combe describes as “a middle-class girl, from the middle of the country, born in the middle of the last century. Clinton is, at her core, still a good girl.” Her reaction to Bill Clinton’s philandering, according to Combe, resonated with “regular Americans” because “betrayal in marriage is common, and finding the empathy for your partner and confidence in yourself to forgive and rebuild can be admirable.” This Clinton is less political. She’s just helping girls save the world.

The shift in persona Combe presents doesn’t exactly jibe with the way Clinton describes herself elsewhere in the piece, “There’s a certain consistency to who I am and what I do, and I think people have finally said, ‘Well, you know, I kinda get her now.’ I’ve actually had people say that to me.”

Thus, the profile didn’t convince me that New Hillary is the real thing. The narrative did seem to possess a crucial element that could help Clinton win in 2016 (if, contrary to everything she and everyone connected to her has said, she decides to run). The New Hillary could move people. Exhibit A: Combe herself, who wrote that she wanted Clinton to win in 2008 (and wants her to run again) to show her daughter what is possible. That’s the kind of sentiment that wins elections.

Huff-Po Link

Sons of Italy to Honor U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton

Tuesday, Mar. 20, 2012 – 2:25 pm

WASHINGTON, March 20, 2012 — /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will be the first woman to receive the Sons of Italy Foundation’s (SIF) Lifetime Achievement Award for Public Service, to be presented at the SIF’s 24th annual National Education & Leadership Awards (NELA) Gala on May 23, 2012, in Washington, D.C.

The award was established three years ago to recognize the extraordinary public and humanitarian service to America by people who are not of Italian heritage. Clinton follows previous honorees Vice President Joe Biden (2009), President Bill Clinton (2010), and U.S. Senator Jack Reed (2011).

“We are deeply honored and pleased that Secretary Clinton has agreed to accept this award, which recognizes her long record of outstanding service to her fellow Americans and people of other nations,” says SIF CEO Philip R. Piccigallo

The SIF and its parent organization, the Order Sons of Italy in America (OSIA) created this special award category to underscore OSIA’s efforts to improve human conditions globally, building upon the SIF’s long record of relief efforts in Italy, Europe, South America, Africa, Mexico, the Caribbean and Asia. To date, the SIF and OSIA have donated $119 million to these efforts.

“Hillary Rodham Clinton’s tireless advocacy on behalf of women and girls both here and abroad as first lady; U.S. senator; and now, secretary of state, makes her richly deserving of such recognition,” Piccigallo says. Since Secretary Clinton will be traveling during the Gala, she will accept the award via video.  Other honorees at the 2012 NELA Gala will include:

• Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace (ret.)
• Secretary-Treasurer of the Laborers International Union of North America Armand Sabatoni, and
• CEO of Mediterranean Shipping Company Claudio Bozzo

Also to be honored at this year’s gala will be 10 to 12 of the brightest and most talented scholars of Italian descent, chosen from a highly selective national competition, who will accept  substantial awards ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 that will enable them to attend some of America’s top colleges and universities.

The NELA Gala is the hallmark of the SIF’s public affairs and fund-raising programs and highlights the foundation’s commitment to educational excellence, leadership and the betterment of society.

The Sons of Italy Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the Order Sons of Italy in America, the oldest and largest organization for men and women of Italian heritage in the United States, founded with the purpose of preserving Italian American culture, encouraging educational excellence among Italian Americans and improving lives in other areas.

SOURCE Sons of Italy Foundation

Read more here: Article