Monday, June 22, 2009

Hillary Clinton's Wednesday Wrap Up: Meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister and broken arm details

Ok so well all know that last Wednesday, June 17th, Hillary Clinton fell and broke her right elbow. And since then there hasn't been as much Hillary news as usual... but ready to get back in the groove. What exactly was Hillary doing Wednesday??

In the morning, she addressed the U.S.-India Business Council's 34th Anniversary "Synergies Summit" at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

"I can tell you my hope and President Obama’s hope that the next stage in our country’s relationship will see a dramatic expansion in our common agenda, and a greater role for India in solving global challenges. We recognize the extraordinary progress that India has made already, and we know that many of these advances have not come easily, and we don’t take them for granted. As we pursue an enhanced bilateral partnership, we should recognize that compared to other metrics of our cooperation, our official ties are past due for an upgrade.

You see, a funny thing happened on the way to this third era of U.S.-India relations. Our scientists and business people, our universities and movie studios, and vibrant Indian-American personal familial connections accepted the truth that cooperation between our countries can be a driver of progress long before our policymakers did.

Today our trade between our nations has doubled since 2004 and now exceeds $43 billion; there are over 90,000 Indian students studying in the United States; and the new Fulbright-Nehru program strengthens educational exchanges between India and the United States with both countries acting as full partners in governance and funding.

We find ourselves in an unusual position. We need the bilateral cooperation between our governments to catch up with our people-to-people and economic ties. We need to make sure that the partnership between Washington and New Delhi, our capitals, will be as advanced and fruitful as the linkages that already exist between Manhattan and Mumbai, or Boston and Bangalore."

You can read her full remarks here or watch below:

Then the Secretary met with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman deliver remarks after their meeting.

During their press conference they answered questions regarding mid-east peace and also addressed the issue of settlement expansion in the West Bank where the Foreign Minister stayed staunch on his stance of not completely halting the settlements. He said this:

"We really don’t have any intention to change the demographic balance in Judea and Samaria. But we think that, you know, as – in every place around the world, baby are born, people get married, some pass away. And we cannot accept – we cannot accept this vision about absolutely completely freezing call for our settlements. I think that we must keep the natural growth. Prime minister spoke about this in his speech. I think that this position, it’s – this view, this approach, it’s very clear.

And also, we had some understandings with the previous administration and we tried to keep this direction. And we are, of course, ready for immediately direct talks with the Palestinians."

The Secretary was also asked during this Q&A her thoughts on the Iranian protests and the U.S. involvement through Twitter. I think she gave a great response!
"The United States believes passionately and strongly in the basic principle of free expression. We believe that it is a fundamental human right for people to be able to communicate, to express their opinions, to take positions. And this is a view that goes back to the founding of our country, and we stand firmly behind it.

And therefore, we promote the right of free expression. And it is the case that one of the means of expression, the use of Twitter, is a very important one not only to the Iranian people, but now increasingly to people around the world, and most particularly young people. I wouldn’t know a Twitter from a tweeter – but apparently, it is very important. And I think keeping that line of communications open and enabling people to share information, particularly at a time when there was not many other sources of information, is an important expression of the right to speak out and to be able to organize that we value."

I'm a little disappointed our dear Hillary doesn't know "a twitter from a tweeter" haha but I am glad that she supports it!

Read the full text here or watch below:

After these few appointments Hillary was on her way to the White House when the accident happened. The NY Times reported a pretty detailed account of the injury.

They are saying that the mishap occurred just before 5 p.m. when Mrs. Clinton was walking from an elevator to her car in the basement of the State Department. She was headed to a meeting with President Obama, accompanied by the administration’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard C. Holbrooke.

After Mrs. Clinton fell, Mr. Holbrooke said, “She struggled to get up to go the meeting, but the pain was very intense.” Still lying on the ground, she instructed Mr. Holbrooke to go without her, and reminded him to brief the president about an upcoming visit to Afghanistan by the State Department’s new ambassador for women’s issues, Melanne Verveer.

“She said, ‘Go to the meeting, that’s an order,’” said Mr. Holbrooke, who told Mr. Obama about the accident.

Mrs. Clinton returned to her 7th floor office before deciding to get treatment at George Washington, a few blocks from the State Department. She was at the hospital for several hours. While painful, the injury appeared to be a “fairly simple, straightforward fracture,” Mr. Crowley said.

Former President Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton flew to Washington together on Wednesday evening to be with Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Obama called Mrs. Clinton at home around 10 p.m.

As I can see from all the comments left on the previous post, as well as all the comments swirling around Twitter and other places on the web, everyone is glad to hear that Hillary is doing much better. She had no public appointments the rest of the week and the Times reported that she has been reading papers and making calls and resting at home.

She had surgery on Friday at 7:30am. Doctors told her she is expected to recover without lasting damage to her arm.

In the written statement released by the State Department, the secretary, former President Clinton, and their daughter, Chelsea, say they are "grateful for the many prayers and messages of good will they have received these past few days, and are so very thankful for the excellent care provided by the doctors, nurses and the staff of The George Washington University Hospital."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm glad that the Clinton family could be together to provide moral support to Our Hillary. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery & my thoughts are with you, Madame Secretary!

Nancy in Cali said...

Oh my Hillary.....I can't stand seeing her hurt.

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