Confirmation Hearing of Senator Hillary Clinton

January 13, 2009 - Maulana

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There was an amplified level of excitement today because C-Span would be taping at the lecture sight in conjunction with the Washington Center for 3 and a half hours. The first hour featured a discussion with Juan Williams (National Public Radio) and Bret Baier (Fox News) hosted by Brian Scully. The discussion touched on a broad range of topics pertaining to President Elect Obama’s ascent, campaign, transition and upcoming administration.

Juan Williams described Obama's victory as "...not just one for the history books, I think this is the cover of the history book..." Williams talked about Obama's presidency being the fulfillment of a legacy/promise. Which reminded me of Michael Genovese saying, "Slaves helped build the White House; on January 20th the great-granddaughter of a slave, Jim Robinson, will be moving into the White House as first lady." These comments crystallized the motto of the seminar "Witness to History." The fact that I was able to and exercised my right to vote in this election was in and of itself, the fulfillment of legacy and a promise; as I imagine is the case with anyone who at one point or another would have been unable to exercise said right. Williams then moved the conversation towards another type of promise. Williams discussed Obama's promise to bring change to Washington D.C. (this briefly segued to the experience of Obama's choices for his cabinet and administration) and what he promised to accomplish his first 100 days in office. Bret Baier discussed the expected change in rhetoric under the Obama administration. He cited the outreach being done by the President Elect to the Republican leaders (Obama has met with the Republican caucus/leadership and will meet with them again directly after the inauguration).

The next show to be taped during the Seminar was Q & A hosted by Brian Lamb, the President and CEO of C-Span. Today's featured guests are Tom and Carol Wheeler (they are a married couple) who were and continue to be part of Obama's staff. Tom Wheeler is a part of the transition team and he will be a part of the agency review working group, his team's primary responsibility will be to make the necessary assessments to advise President-elect Obama's senior appointees so that they are ready to work after confirmation. Carol Wheeler is the Obama team's Irish American Outreach Coordinator, her work focused on the Irish American population in the Northeast (Wheeler's well respected in the Irish community and her two foundations: Project Children and the Washington Irish Program put her in an ideal position to become the ambassador to Ireland).

The third hour of the Q & A focused on questioning the students in the Inauguration Seminar about their experiences, their perception of Obama and various world affairs. A student created a minor stir by admitting that he did not care about Darfur and he did not feel that the U.S. should be involved there, the back lash from the students was immediate and while I do not agree with the student I found it interesting that he could not express his opinion without such a reaction from his peers.

Now to what was to be the highlight of the day and possibly the trip, besides the inauguration itself, of course! Lucy and I left the lecture portion of the seminar early to go see Hillary Clinton's confirmation hearing as Secretary of State. We were filled with anticipation, we were overcome with the prospect of seeing Senator Clinton and seeing her perform under direct questioning by the Foreign Affairs Committee chaired by Senator John Kerry. I can honestly say that her entrance into the room was a moment of sheer disbelief for me; I could not believe I was in the same room with such a great woman, who had accomplished so much and who had endured so much. As is usual for Hillary Clinton, she conducted herself with an absolute air of confidence, ability and awareness. She was obviously well prepared for this hearing and was able to answer all substantive questions with a wide breadth of background knowledge and a clear idea on how to proceed with the issues as well as demonstrating her understanding for the use of diplomacy and partnership. "The world cannot function without the United States and the United States cannot function without the world." Clinton had several instances where she referenced President-elect Obama's vision and mission for foreign relations in accordance with her own. During the first round of questioning Senator Clinton was challenged by a junior Senator David Vitter. May I just say that I knew from his line of questioning that he was a new Senator and I was right! He questioned Senator Clinton regarding the MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) that had been done regarding the Clinton Foundation. However, he was the only Senator on the Committee who challenged Senator Clinton. The rest of the Senators prefaced their comments/questions with congratulatory statements or assurance of their vote in favor of Senator Clinton. This disappointed me in way, while I have no doubt that Hillary Clinton will be an excellent Secretary of State, I expected the vetting process to be more extensive and for some actual judgment of a candidate's worthiness to take place. As I would later learn a President's choices for cabinet/administration are usually given the green light.

The day ended with a reception at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce featuring guest speaker Bob Shieffer. Shieffer spoke to us about preparing to mediate the third presidential debate between Senators Obama and McCain. He also spoke about his extensive career in journalism and the role of the media in an election, media bias (Sarah Palin) and the responsibility the media has to the American public.

After the reception we walked to the White House and looked at the setup for the parade. We also stopped into a souvenir store that featured a replica of LBJ/JFK's presidential desk (the one featured in the famous picture of John F. Kennedy with John F. Kennedy Jr. crawling through the trap door of the desk).

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