Hillary's Night on the Town in Dublin

Stacy posted this article at Secretary Clinton blog. I find it so touching I have to put it here, too. I did not know that this was the first dedicated trip to Ireland by a Secretary of State. I do remember that back on St. Patrick's Day, when she met with Prime Minister Brian Cowen and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheal Martin in Washington, she was also interviewed by an Irish radio station and was asked when she would be going to Ireland. At the time, she did not hold much hope for a visit within her first year at State since there were so many critical regions on her map. But this visit has clearly made an impression and provided a message that the Irish people like. They love our girl! (So do we!) Here's the lovely article from the Irish Times.

KATHY SHERIDAN

THIRTEEN CARS and three buses wound their way to Farmleigh and another piece of history was made as the first US secretary of state to make a dedicated visit to Ireland emerged from an armoured 07 BMW.

She came dressed in a royal blue “pantsuit”, feminised with a ruffle, a large silver necklace and black kitten heels, none of which detracted from that formidable gaze as she and the Taoiseach swapped diplomatic phrases under a lowering sky.

It was a transformed Hillary, wrapped in a black coat and jolly yellow scarf, who stepped from a limousine on South Anne Street in Dublin city centre a few hours later as dusk was falling.

The Irish are not a slow people. The Garda presence on South Anne Street was a giveaway and the lads in Kehoe’s pub were ready and waiting with a big cheer. Suddenly, from the emptying streets, humans were emerging from all angles, beaming just-got-lucky grins and wielding their camera phones, as a totally relaxed Hillary smiled and chatted her way towards Bewley’s, the usual wary secret service crew keeping watch but giving room for an astonishingly intimate love-in.

“Got your Michael Jackson glove?” she asked merrily, showing the stuff that made her great by clocking – in the dusk – the single white glove on a small boy’s hand.

Two little red-haired girls, Laura and Emma Smithers from Knocklion, Co Cavan, presented her with flowers : “Oh my gosh is that for me? Can I take them with me?” she asked, wide-eyed.

READ THE REST HERE...