Fireside chat with Hillary Clinton

We have a program at work where they invite famous people to come speak, and Eric would interview them. Today we had the rare opportunity to hear Hillary Clinton and that was definitely a treat. It's hard to imagine having these kind of opportunities elsewhere, though I really hope they'll bring Obama in too at some point for a good compare & contrast :)

So I'm blogging this live a la wonkette or dkos style -

Interesting notes so far

- Her policy cornerstones really seem to focus on universal health care, education, alternative energy and climate change. I'm not convinced this will work nationally, i.e., to win the election, but then again she could be tailoring it very much to the G audience. Personally, I'd rather hear more about Iraq, the economy, and redefining our foreign policy in general.
- Key message - restore confidence at home and respect abroad
- No escalation of troops into Iraq. Wow, that's surprising.
- No continued unconditional funding of the reconstruction unless
- A few nicely placed snipes at W and Cheney, me likes :)
- Wants to start dialogue with states such as Iran, Syria whom we're not talking to now.
- Will extricate us from Iraq if W doesn't get us out.

Unfortunately, Eric lobbed her some softball questions in the beginning which ate up all the time, so the only serious question she took was on Iraq. Would have loved to hear some more.

Thoughts afterwards -

Hillary is a great, great public speaker. Probably way underestimated when compared to her husband. But her style is quite different, I feel she's much more formal. She's incredibly intelligent and eloquent, but lacks that little bit of warmth or informality to really connect with the audience. It was kind of like listening to a grad school lecture. Bill, on the other hand, was great at making you feel like he was speaking to you personally, even though he may be delivering the State of the Union. It's interesting - it's as if you don't want to be too perfect in your delivery, because then you lose that personal touch. A little bit of colloquialism actually goes a long ways in establishing trust and credibility, and invoking emotion. I've heard Obama is also a phenomenal speaker, though I haven't had the time to watch an entire speech. W, for all his faults, is also an underestimated public speaker. He has an uncanny ability to project sincerity while speaking, But unfortunately since there's nothing upstairs, and his language command is so pathetically poor, it's hard not to laugh at his fluff after a while.