Upcoming: On Hillary Clinton's Agenda

Well for those thirsty for news about the Secretary of State, finally there is some! (I mean as opposed to gossip about meals at Babette's and wine-tastings that have graced my screen since she has had the nerve to take a few days off.) P.J. Crowley, in today's press briefing, outlined a little of what she has been doing (while resting in East Hampton), and what she will be doing over the next several days.

Philip J. Crowley

Assistant Secretary
Daily Press Briefing

Washington, DC

August 30, 2010

"... Secretary has been working from home, shall we say, taking a few days off last week from her duties here. She’ll return to Washington this evening. And I expect between now and Wednesday, she’ll have a handful of meetings with her counterparts as we prepare for the President’s dinner on Wednesday night and the meetings with Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas here at the State Department on Thursday.

I know tomorrow, she will meet with Foreign Minister Aboul Gheit of Egypt and General Soliman, who is the head of the Egyptian Intelligence Services. The two of them regularly interact with the Secretary and George Mitchell on Middle Eastern developments. I would expect she’ll have other meetings that are still being set up. She talked over the weekend with EU Special Representative Tony Blair. He will also be in town this week to participate in the dinner."

According to a Somali source, her Iftar Dinner will be held Tuesday, September 7. It is not going to be an easy week for her, and while I know we will all be happy to see her out and about again, I find it a little sad that her short break is over since it was interspersed with work.

Madame Secretary, welcome back. We missed you, and hope you enjoyed your miniscule break. Thank you for all of your hard work.