Hillary's Moving Keynote Speech at the 58th National Prayer Breakfast

On Thursday, February 4th, 2010, Secretary Clinton gave the keynote address at the 58th National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton Hotel.

Those in attendance added up to over 4,000, over 140 different countries, including the Prime minister of Spain, and of course President Obama and Vice President Biden.

The lead issue in Secretary Clinton's address was unsurprisingly Haitian relief. She applauded the international response, attributing it to the "zenith of our character and the best of our faith." She also focused on the darker side of religion, reminding her audience that so much violence is carried out in the name of God: "But religion, cloaked in naked power lust, is used to justify horrific violence, attacks on homes, markets, schools, volleyball games, churches, mosques, synagogues, temples."

She reflected back to her own faith tradition, talking about her childhood and the motto to live by. As a Hillary fan its great to get this glimpse into her spiritual side:

As Amy said, I grew up in the Methodist Church. On both sides of my father's family, the Rodhams and the Joneses, they came from mining towns. And they claimed, going back many years, to have actually been converted by John and Charles Wesley. And, of course, Methodists were methodical. It was a particularly good religion for me. (Laughter.) And part of it is a commitment to living out your faith. We believe that faith without works may not be dead, but it's hard to discern from time to time.

And of course, John Wesley had this simple rule which I carry around with me as I travel: Do all the good you can by all the means you can in all the ways you can in all the places you can at all the times you can to all the people you can, as long as ever you can. That's a tall order. And of course, one of the interpretive problems with it is, who defines good? What are we actually called to do, and how do we stay humble enough, obedient enough, to ask ourselves, am I really doing what I'm called to do?

It was a good rule to be raised by and it was certainly a good rule for my mother and father to discipline us by. And I think it's a good rule to live by, with the appropriate dose of humility. Our world is an imperfect one filled with imperfect people, so we constantly struggle to meet our own spiritual goals. But John Wesley's teachings, and the teachings of my church, particularly during my childhood and teenage years, gave me the impetus to believe that I did have a responsibility. It meant not sitting on the sidelines, but being in the arena. And it meant constantly working to try to fulfill the lessons that I absorbed as a child. It's not easy. We're here today because we're all seekers, and we can all look around our own lives and the lives of those whom we know and see everyone falling so short.

She ended her speech on a powerfully moving set of words. She talked a bit about her "honeymoon" with Bill and her family and then her "second honeymoon" with Bill in Haiti:

In 1975, my husband and I, who had gotten married in October, and we were both teaching at the University of Arkansas Law School in beautiful Fayetteville, Arkansas - we got married on a Saturday and we went back to work on a Monday. So around Christmastime, we decided that we should go somewhere and celebrate, take a honeymoon. And my late father said, "Well, that's a great idea. We'll come, too."

And indeed, Bill and I and my entire family - (laughter) - went to Acapulco. We had a great time, but it wasn't exactly a honeymoon. So when we got back, Bill was talking to one of his friends who was then working in Haiti, and his friend said, "Well, why don't you come see me? This is the most interesting country. Come and take some time." So indeed, we did. So we were there over the New Year's holidays. And I remember visiting the Cathedral in Port-au-Prince, in the midst, at that time, so much fear from the regime of the Duvaliers, and so much poverty, there was this cathedral that had stood there and served as a beacon of hope and faith.

After the earthquake, I was looking at some of our pictures from the disaster, and I saw the total destruction of the cathedral. It was just a heart-rending moment. And yet I also saw men and women helping one another, digging through the rubble, dancing and singing in the makeshift communities that they were building up. And I thought again that as the scripture reminds us, "Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed."

As the memory of this crisis fades, as the news cameras move on to the next very dramatic incident, let us pray that we can sustain the force and the feeling that we find in our hearts and in our faith in the aftermath of such tragedies. Let us pray that we will all continue to be our brothers' and sisters' keepers. Let us pray that amid our differences, we can continue to see the power of faith not only to make us whole as individuals, to provide personal salvation, but to make us a greater whole and a greater force for good on behalf of all creation.

So let us do all the good we can, by all the means we can, in all the ways we can, in all the places we can, to all the people we can, as long as ever we can.

Read her full remarks here or watch below: Read entire post

Secretary Clinton's Speaks on Internet Freedom

Yesterday morning at 9:30 a.m. EST, Secretary Clinton delivered a speech on internet freedom and diplomacy, at the Newseum in Washington DC.

She began her speech talking a little bit about Haiti and she brought up the new text HAITI campaign that was recently launched. I'm sure many of you have received texts for this campaign, if you want to donate all you have to do is text "HAITI" to "90999" and $10 will be sent the Red Cross and charged to your cell phone bill. This is what Hillary said so far about the campaign:

In the hours after the quake, we worked with partners in the private sector; first, to set up the text “HAITI” campaign so that mobile phone users in the United States could donate to relief efforts via text messages. That initiative has been a showcase for the generosity of the American people, and thus far, it’s raised over $25 million for recovery efforts.

What I also thought was an import point she hit on Haiti is the critical role information networks have also played on the ground there. She used an example of how on Monday, a seven-year-old girl and two women were pulled from the rubble of a collapsed supermarket by an American search-and-rescue team after they sent a text message calling for help.

She went on to speak about the power of the internet and how both she and President Obama believe in the freedom of the internet:

There are many other networks in the world. Some aid in the movement of people or resources, and some facilitate exchanges between individuals with the same work or interests. But the internet is a network that magnifies the power and potential of all others. And that’s why we believe it’s critical that its users are assured certain basic freedoms. Freedom of expression is first among them. This freedom is no longer defined solely by whether citizens can go into the town square and criticize their government without fear of retribution. Blogs, emails, social networks, and text messages have opened up new forums for exchanging ideas, and created new targets for censorship.

As I speak to you today, government censors somewhere are working furiously to erase my words from the records of history. But history itself has already condemned these tactics.

I thought it was important and very necessary to talk about the dangers and problems with a free flowing stream of information online. She brought up the abuse of this freedom by al-Qaida saying, "We do not tolerate those who incite others to violence, such as the agents of al-Qaida who are, at this moment, using the internet to promote the mass murder of innocent people across the world. And hate speech that targets individuals on the basis of their race, religion, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation is reprehensible."

She went on to make a very important point saying that "these challenges must NOT become an excuse for governments to systematically violate the rights and privacy of those who use the internet for peaceful political purposes... Those who disrupt the free flow of information in our society or any other pose a threat to our economy, our government, and our civil society. Countries or individuals that engage in cyber attacks should face consequences and international condemnation. In an internet-connected world, an attack on one nation’s networks can be an attack on all. And by reinforcing that message, we can create norms of behavior among states and encourage respect for the global networked commons."

She then outlined how the United States is preparing to apply these principles that she outlined in her speech. She announced that the State Department is already working in more than 40 countries to help individuals silenced by oppressive governments. She went on to say that they are making this issue a priority at the United Nations as well by including internet freedom as a component in the first resolution we introduced after returning to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The Secretary also announced the supporting the development of new tools that enable citizens to exercise their rights of free expression by circumventing politically motivated censorship and actively providing funds to groups around the world to make sure that those tools get to the people who need them in local languages, and with the training they need to access the internet safely.

She then took questions from the audience which I would recommend reading in the full text. You can read the full text of her remarks here or watch below: Read entire post

Secretary Clinton speech on Foreign Policy

On January 6th, 2010, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a speech on foreign policy at Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. Read her full remarks here or watch below: Read entire post

Secretary Clinton hosts Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ahead of State Dinner

Today was all about India! Secretary Clinton attended the Official South Lawn Arrival Ceremony for Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of the Republic of India, and his wife, Mrs. Gursharan Kaur, at the White House.

Shortly afterward, Secretary Clinton joined President Obama and Prime Minister Singh, at the White House for a bilateral meeting.

Secretary Clinton then hosted a Luncheon for Prime Minister Singh and Mrs. Kaur alongside Vice President Joe Biden and Jill Biden. Also in attendance was First Lady Michelle Obama.

Read her remarks here or watch below:

After a few other meetings and bilaterals, at 7pm EST, Secretary Clinton attended President Obama's State Dinner in honor of Prime Minister Singh and Mrs. Kaur, in a tent on the South Lawn of the White House. There has been much buzz in the politosphere about who is invited, what everyone will be wearing etc, etc, about the State Dinner. We all know Hillary is invited but what will she be wearing!?

Stay tuned for (hopefully) some photos of her attire as well as a video of the State Dinner! Read entire post

Picspam: Last nights Presidental Address to Congress... and a Firecracker Red Pantsuit!

Last night was President Obama's much anticipated speech to Congress on Health Care. Hillary Rodham Clinton was there, in true rockstar fashion, sitting front row sporting a firecracker red pantsuit. The entire text of Obama's address to Congress is here.

Here are a few of my favorite parts:

But we did not come here just to clean up crises. We came here to build a future. So tonight, I return to speak to all of you about an issue that is central to that future -- and that is the issue of health care.

I am not the first President to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last...

Our collective failure to meet this challenge -- year after year, decade after decade -- has led us to the breaking point. Everyone understands the extraordinary hardships that are placed on the uninsured, who live every day just one accident or illness away from bankruptcy...

We are the only democracy -- the only advanced democracy on Earth -- the only wealthy nation -- that allows such hardship for millions of its people...

In Obama's speech he laid out his plan in a very clear way. He said:

The plan I'm announcing tonight would meet three basic goals. It will provide more security and stability to those who have health insurance. It will provide insurance for those who don't. And it will slow the growth of health care costs for our families, our businesses, and our government...

You can read more details on what the White House has released of the new Health Care Plan here. There isn't much so far but it definitely helps to explain and lay out clearly what the vision is for reform.

Let's not forget the part of the speech that will most likely be remembered for a long time. When North Carolina Representative shouted out, "You lie!" after Obama mentioned that his plan will not protect citizens that are living in the U.S. illegally.

Almost immediately after the speech Wilson released an apology statement. Appearing on ABC's "Good Morning America" this morning, Vice President Joe Biden said the incident made him "embarrassed for the chamber and a Congress I love." Biden also said he hadn't spoken with Obama, but was "sure he accepted the apology."

The President toward the end of his speech brought almost everyone to tears when he stunned everyone by revealing a letter that Ted Kennedy had written to him on May 12, 2009. He wrote about Health Care and the hope he had that THIS is the year it will finally pass. Read the entire letter from Ted Kennedy here or catch a moving excerpt below:

For me, this cause stretched across decades; it has been disappointed, but never finally defeated. It was the cause of my life. And in the past year, the prospect of victory sustained me-and the work of achieving it summoned my energy and determination.

There will be struggles – there always have been – and they are already underway again. But as we moved forward in these months, I learned that you will not yield to calls to retreat - that you will stay with the cause until it is won. I saw your conviction that the time is now and witnessed your unwavering commitment and understanding that health care is a decisive issue for our future prosperity. But you have also reminded all of us that it concerns more than material things; that what we face is above all a moral issue; that at stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country.

View President Obama's full speech in its entirety below:

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