Now that I look at it again, my Hillary T-shirt, the official brown one with the blue signature, doesn’t say anything about President. The name Hillary is scrawled on the front. On the back it says, “Make history!” That’s all.

I made sure I ordered one from the campaign last spring when things were not going Hillary’s way and she was expected to concede. I thought it would be a historic keepsake for my female descendants. But that T-shirt has a future. Even if Hillary Clinton didn’t get the job she spent two years going after, it looks like she’s getting a job that will make history happen somewhere in the world.

As secretary of state she’s going to be center stage in a changing world with new hot spots igniting seemingly every week. America will be in the middle of each one and so will America’s top diplomat. No doubt she’s got the chops for the job. “Able, tough and brilliant” is what David Axelrod, Obama’s strategy guy, said about her this week.

She already has great international contacts. She’s already respected in many parts of the globe, and liked - maybe even more than she is in some sectors of her own country.

The other good thing about Hillary being secretary of state is that she is always a story. Wherever she goes the media pack follows. Think how much we’re going to be learn about geo-politics just by following Hillary around the CNN map.

The press pounced when word got out that Obama wanted his former rival for the plum cabinet job. She still makes some - mostly male - pundits sputter in annoyance. But like her or not, Hillary was “it” again. Would she compete with Joe Biden for influence? Would her husband’s work get in her way? Could Obama trust her? How would they resolve their differences on going to war in Iraq? Was he giving her the job just to keep her out of the running in 2012? Does Hillary know how to be a team player?

That last one hardly seems fair. This is the person who in Denver said of Obama, “He is MY candidate. He MUST be our president.” With grace and passion, she reminded her followers that the election was about something much more than Hillary Clinton. And then she went on to help make sure Barack Obama won.

As a member of the Hillary generation I applaud her for re-inventing herself at 61.

Hillary has always managed to bust stereotypes. She didn’t bake cookies. And she’s probably never hanging up her Superwoman cape to go play golf.

During the campaign Hillary tried to not play the gender card, but others did. And others also played the too old-too late card. But now here she is, going to work for a young male boss who recognizes and values her energy, intellect and experience. And what a heavy job assignment. To go clean up our shattered image abroad. To try to get old and new enemies to sit down and talk before blowing each other up.

So, I can unpack my Hillary shirt. It goes well with the hat my daughter gave me for my birthday. The one that says Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsuits for Obama. I wonder if Hillary has one.

Tags: Hillary_Clinton, Juicy_Tomatoes, Sisterhood_of_the_Traveling_Pantsuits, Susan_Swartz

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 26th, 2008 at 3:53 pm and is filed under Aging, Media, Musings, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.