Saturday: Lead, Hillary, lead!

Morning news junkies!

Wonk here, with some weekend reads for you, so grab a fresh cup of your favorite a.m. beverage and let’s get right to it.

First up — to the right, it’s our girl in the Dominican Republic on Wednesday, being greeted by participants of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Network (State Department/public domain photo):

Where women are involved in economies, everybody does better. That’s just common sense.

–Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton

Two days earlier at Foggy Bottom’s Ben Franklin Room, Hillary honored African women entrepreneurs–here’s an excerpt from her remarks to them (and a pic of Hillary with the women–click on it to see the HQ version):

And so today, I am here to really not only thank you, but to encourage you – to encourage you to keep making the contacts, building the networks, making the changes that will really revolutionize what women are doing around the world. And I know that there are many here who are very determined and very committed but still face obstacles. So I wanted also to tell you, do not despair. You have many friends and supporters back here in the United States. And we will try to help you break down the barriers and the hurdles that you encounter. You heard Sylvia say that there needed to be support for women to travel those great long distances across Africa, to meet with one another, to share ideas, to start businesses. And we will do our best to help you make the difference in your own lives.

And we also will keep telling leaders around the world, as I did at a conference just a few weeks ago about Asia, that the rise of women in economies over the past 10 years has increased globally the GDP to the equivalent of China’s. Now what that means is if women are empowered to work, to build businesses, to have access to credit, to have an ownership interest in the land that they farm and the crops that they harvest, to be given a chance to compete, as Sylvia said, we know that women will make a huge contribution. So we have to break down the barriers that still exist. We have to change the laws that still hold women back. We have to not only encourage you, but encourage the governments and businesses of Africa to recognize a good thing, which is your empowerment and entrepreneurial skills.

There are still some people I encounter who say, “Well, women don’t contribute much to the economy,” because of course, they don’t count the backbreaking work that women do every single day. And I’m always a little disappointed and quite surprised when I hear that, and I say to these male economists and government leaders, “Look out the window of your car, of your house, of your office. Who is doing a lot of the work in Africa? And who is doing work that is not fairly compensated? And what can you do to unleash that potential so that your GDP grows, your economy gets bigger, you will benefit from this kind of investment?”

I’ve long been one of the voices saying “Rise, Hillary, Rise,” but these days the words that come to my mind are… “Lead, Hillary… Lead!”

Especially after reading the next two items…

The first of which is Laura Rozen’s piece earlier this week at The Envoy — “The Clinton doctrine on economic statecraft: Clinton to urge U.S. diplomats to put economics at top of foreign policy agenda.”

And in many ways, Hillary Clinton’s diplomatic portfolio is increasingly dominated by global economic challenges. Trade issues obviously have a direct impact on America’s efforts to emerge from the present economic downturn–from the battles over the national debt to the need to stimulate job growth. But economic issues also shape other less-noted features of the American foreign-policy agenda, be it the effort to contain fallout from Europe’s debt crisis, to managing the rise of G20 economic powers such as Brazil, Turkey and India—all of whom come bearing their own foreign policy ambitions. As a result, diplomats say, economic and foreign policy are growing ever more intertwined.

“The trading floor is increasingly replacing the battlefield as the forum for state contacts,” according  to one of Clinton’s State Department advisers, who spoke on condition of anonymity so as to describe the department’s economic plans more broadly.

So Hillary Clinton has been working hard to beef up the economic bench strength of the State Department, while also mounting a bid for State officials to play a more decisive role in determining U.S. global economics policy. Aides expect her to lay out what they are calling the “Clinton doctrine on economic statecraft” early this month, likely in a speech in New York. Timing and venue for the address are still being worked out, her aides say.

Here’s a taste of the second piece, from Business Insider — “Obama Taps Hillary Clinton’s Popularity To Help Push Jobs Agenda“:

President Barack Obama has drafted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to help him sell his jobs agenda to a wary Congress and American public.

Clinton, the most popular figure in American government, will host Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness on Friday at the State Department to discuss ways to grow foreign direct investment and increase domestic investment.

It’s a major shift for Clinton, who has largely been above the fray between Congress and Obama, with a heavy foreign policy agenda due to the Arab Spring — and inserting her into the debate seems to be an attempt by the Obama administration to capitalize on her popularity.

Is it any wonder that Hillary continues to be the talk of DC’s 2012 parlor games — the latest of which has Politico nominating Hillary for a fantasy independent run:

There’s the minor inconvenience that she’s a lifelong Democrat, works for Obama and seems hell-bent on getting out of the public arena (before she runs again in 2016). She will need to explain all of that away.

Here’s how. Clinton could plunge in with a nonpartisan campaign that merges the two chapters of her political life: managing a world on fire as secretary of state the past two years and helping her husband oversee eight years of prosperity during the 1990s.

Back here in the reality-based world, Hillary has released a wonderful statement honoring this years’ female Nobel peace laureates:

I am delighted to send heartfelt congratulations to Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Yemeni activist Tawakkul Karman and Liberian peace activist Leymah Roberta Gbowee for the prestigious honor of sharing this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. They are shining examples of the difference that women can make and the progress they can help achieve when given the opportunity to make decisions about the future of their societies and countries.

The unflinching courage, strength and leadership of these women to build peace, advance reconciliation, and defend the rights of fellow citizens in their own countries provide inspiration for women’s rights and human progress everywhere. This recognition of their extraordinary accomplishments reflects the efforts of many other women who are promoting peace and security in their countries and communities. I want to commend the Nobel Committee for recognizing the powerful role women are playing in building peace and ending conflict around the world.

Quote Unquote

Here are a few blurbs of interest I caught this week (the first one is strange if you read it all the way through, in a sort of revealing way):

Occupy Wall Street is the latest proof that populism is not a purely conservative phenomenon; instead, populism of the left or the right distrusts government as a bribed, compromised institution, and rejects consensus as a political tactic. For liberals who envy the conservative skill at converting protest movements into a sustained political force, and who want to create a left -leaning enforcer within the Democratic Party, OWS is the answer to a fantasy.

However, for Barack Obama, OWS happens to be the polar opposite of what he campaigned on as well as the message that launched him at the convention in Boston in 2004. Its “us versus them” mantra has made Wall Street its target, but its ultimate result would be a politics that is conflict-driven, divided, and bitterly conscious of the line between a “red” and a “blue” America. Obama should hear the anger in these protests, but he should recognize that it is poised to join the tea party as one more force that is pulling us apart.

–Artur Davis, former congressman (D-Ala.)

“That was an event in my life, not who I am. I’m a friend, daughter, sister, teacher. I’m in a relationship (with a Waltham, Mass. Businessman) that’s been wonderful for 10 years – longer… I’m happy, and I still have a voice.”

—Anita Hill on her testimony against Clarence Thomas 

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in San Francisco yesterday for an event at the Westin St. Francis, where she gave a keynote speech about “the inclusion of women as an economic growth strategy” at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Women and the Economy Summit. And this morning an informant tells Grub Street that she dined last night at Zuni Café. “She was super friendly,” says the informant. “She drinks whiskey sours. Weird, right?”

–Grub Street

Gabby did it better than I did.

–Joe Biden, on Gabbty Giffords’ effort to affix a medal to former astronaut and Navy Capt. Mark Kelly’s jacket

Today in Women’s History (October 8th)  

Jeanne Mance  was  the first nurse in New France. On October 8, 1645, she..

…opens the Hôtel Dieu, Montreal’s First hospital and the First lay hospital in North America; she will treat the French and Aboriginal populations for over 30 years.

Jeanne Mance later helped her friend Marguerite Bourgeoys found the Congregation of Notre Dame for the education of girls.

Well that’s it for me… what’s on your mind/reading list this weekend?