The REAL Reason Hillary Clinton Was In D.C. Yesterday

As an inveterate rule-follower,  I have always strictly adhered to my university's rules for delivering three-credit graduate courses which clearly state the number of scheduled hours I am obliged to meet with my classes.  For years, I had to decline invitations to sit on Fulbright panels because the days and times the panels met conflicted with my classes.  I was delighted, when Hillary Clinton became Secretary of State, to be invited to a panel that did not conflict with classes and accepted.  Reading the eighty-some-odd applications was both time-consuming and enlightening.  The young people told sometimes heart-crushing stories, done enormous research into the regions they hoped to visit, and became flesh-and-blood right off the screen and  in front of my eyes as I read their plans.  I was honored to serve on these panels several times and will do so again if asked and if I am able.

By now everyone knows that yesterday Hillary Clinton lunched with President Obama and had breakfast with Joe Biden this morning at the Naval Observatory where they shared Tuesday morning breakfast many times when she was Secretary of State.  There was that one nagging question at the back of every mind that has followed Hillary over the years.  Why was she really in DC?  We know that she is not frivolous with her time, that she schedules herself most efficiently, so there must have been more.  Indeed there was, as this article from Jamie Stiehm at U.S. News & World Report attests.

Poised and Presidential

By Jamie Stiehm

I heard Hillary Clinton  speak yesterday at a small gathering at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a perfect venue for her presidential aspirations the second time around, with the words from Wilson's loftiest speeches etched on the memorial walls. He had a grand international vision, but the world wasn't quite ready for it a century ago.
Well, the nation wasn't quite ready for Clinton in 2008, except for the 18 million who cast votes for her in the Democratic primary race. Some of us are resisting the temptation to say we told you so. Others are more outspoken as they look at the lackluster state of affairs and morale under President Obama's leadership.
SNIP
Clinton came not to give a campaign speech, but to honor and be honored by the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. The public policy fellowship will now be named for her and the late Senator J. William Fulbright, so the 23 fellows going abroad this summer are officially known as "Fulbright-Clinton Fellows."

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Clearly Jamie is one of us, but that aside, this is HUGE!  HUGE!!!  Fulbright-Clinton scholars!  Imagine!  Perhaps I really am the nerd I think I am, but this, THIS was the real news yesterday, not the political chess games everyone was making of a few meals with former colleagues.
This is an enormous honor, very well-deserved.  I am so proud of our Hillary and proud, as well, to have been able to serve.