Culture

Secretary Clinton unveiled a statue of 19th-century American poet Walt Whitman at Moscow State University today. The statue -- from the D.C. mayor -- reciprocated a statue of Russian poet Alexander Pushkin that was presented to the U.S. capital from the Moscow mayor in 2000. The Pushkin statue stands on the campus of George Washington University, at 22nd and H streets NW.

Many people think Whitman was gay, and Russian gay-rights activists had called on Clinton to denounce anti-gay attitudes. Clinton did not mention gay rights in her brief remarks at the unveiling, but she has definitely done much to promote human rights and openness during her visit to Russia.

Photo: Valeriy Yevseyev, U.S. State Department

Last week, Secretary Clinton was promoting a U.N. resolution to protect girls from sexual violence. Yesterday, she received a letter from the French and Polish foreign ministers requesting that the United States drop its extradition demand for Oscar-winning filmmaker Roman Polanski, who was detained in Switzerland Saturday for sexually molesting a 13-year-old girl in Los Angeles in 1977 (a crime to which he pleaded guilty back in the 1970s).

Clinton must protect the interests of girls (and children, more generally) and do all she can to bring this child molester to justice.

The legal process for extraditing Polanski is primarily in the hands of the state of California, where the crime occurred, and the U.S. Justice Department, said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley at yesterday's press briefing. The State Department's role will simply be to ensure that California's formal extradition request meets the terms of the United States' extradition treaty with Switzerland, Crowley added.

For more about why Polanski must be brought to justice, check out Eugene Robinson's op-ed in today's Washington Post.

Photo: SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP/Getty Images

Actress Hope Davis, who'll be playing Hillary Clinton in the forthcoming film The Special Relationship, has a makeup team that is doing a surprisingly good job at making her look like the former first lady (the movie takes place from the mid-1990s to 2000). Davis told the New York Times that she uses wigs, false teeth, and pantsuits made "exactly to spec" to transform herself into a Clinton look-alike.

The hard part, though, is Clinton's accent. Davis told the Times, "Her accent has changed a bit over the years. In 1992, when she became first lady, she had quite a bit of Arkansas still in her speech from her 13 years there. That’s really gone now. So her accent has kind of shifted over time but she’s lived in very different places. So that became tricky."

Check out the thumbnail image above from the Times. She really does look like Clinton!

Photo: Thumbnail from New York Times, Steve Forrest for The New York Times

Actress Hope Davis, left, will play Hillary Clinton in the forthcoming movie The Special Relationship, which will chronicle the relationship between U.S. President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the late 1990s. Originally, Julianne Moore, right, was to play Hillary Clinton, but she had to step down due to a scheduling conflict.

Who do you think looks more like Clinton? I vote for Davis.

Photos, left to right: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images, Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images

Iranians flocked to the polls today to elect one of four men as their next president. Top advisors to one of the candidates, Mehdi Karroubi, a moderate, recently suggested that if he wins (which he likely won't), he should appoint a female foreign minister. Why? So she would be able to shake hands with Secretary Clinton, something that would be taboo for a man to do.

[Mehdi Karroubi] recently debated with his team the number of cabinet posts women should fill. Mr Karroubi's top advisers lobbied for the Foreign Ministry, speculating that when relations with the US normalise, the new foreign minister could shake hands with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Not all Muslims, though, think it's improper for people of the opposite sex to shake hands. Below, Secretary Clinton shakes hands with Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda, a Muslim, on Feb. 18.

Photo: ADEK BERRY/AFP/Getty Images

Although everyone else will be craning their necks on Tuesday to catch a glimpse of Michelle and Barack Obama (or consolation prizes Jill and Joe Biden), I'm going to be looking over everyone's shoulders for Hillary. People made her just a little easier to spot today by publishing an interview with Oscar de la Renta, who designed Hillary's inaugural day look and her gown.

De la Renta says that her swearing-in outfit is in royal blue -- which is the color she wore for yesterday's goodbye speech. He decribes her gown for the balls thusly: 

De la Renta says she will be "wearing a very, very beautiful dress…pink and grey with this beautiful embroidery."

I'll admit, I'm not the world's biggest fan of pink, but, then, neither is Hillary, so it must be something special.

In fact, one of the few times she's been photographed in pink was last year, in the infamous cleavage incident of 2007. Hillary, who has never been one for showing off her womanly attributes (though she should!), inspired vats of ink with one suit she wore to the floor of the Senate that showed an entire inch of cleavage. It hasn't been seen since.

De la Renta says that he and Clinton often argue about showing off cleavage or her shoulders, as she feels uncomfortable subjecting herself to the potential for criticism for doing so. But he, like me, is hoping she leaves her modesty-shawl at home and rocks out on Tuesday night with the rest of us.

Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images Entertainment

When Bill Clinton first became president, it was not an unusual occurrence for Hillary Clinton to be seen in a skirt. But around the time she started running for Senate, she became the First Lady of the Pantsuit -- and, like my former colleagues at Glamour magazine, I'm all for it in theory. Skirt suits are pretty cold in Washington (let alone New York) winters, stockings are hideous in the swampy summers and, goodness knows, I've heard enough anonymous Internet commenters talk about "cankles" to last me a lifetime (as if any of those people have seen their own ankles in years). So, I can only imagine how Hillary feels. For my part, I'm pretty sure her ankles are just fine.

Plus, as anyone in D.C. knows, this is a drab suit kind of town, so Hillary's  penchant for the jewel toned-pantsuits (which replaced her earlier black-only uniform) is actually a step away from (and often above) the average. But, as someone with a similar body type as Hillary Clinton, I'd like to encourage her to discover something that many Washington women -- including her immediate predecessor, Condoleezza Rice -- have discovered: the skirt suit/knee-high boot combination.

Let it be said, however, that I'm not suggesting that Hillary put on a pair of Rice- or Palin-esque stiletto boots. Given her normal shoes (yes, I'm obsessed with her shoes, too), she has obviously chosen to stick with flats or kitten heels for her own reasons -- which could include the health of her joints and back, as my own mother reminds me when I wear heels. But, all need not be lost in the knee-high boots department this winter.

Plenty of knee-high boots come in flats or short heels and serve the same function as the high-heeled boot: to allow a woman to wear a skirt suit and still have covered legs in freezing temperatues (as Clinton's soon-to-be boss's inauguration is likely to be). Women of all ages, all over Washington are probably wearing such boots with their suits as I type this, and Hillary Clinton could certainly (and attractively) join their ranks. She might not set all the male hearts aquiver in Eastern Europe doing it, but I, for one, would applaud her.

Plus, then my mom would probably stop kvetching at me for wearing them.

Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images and Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images

For a little mid-afternoon distraction, take the hilarious First Lady Fashion Quiz over at the NYT. Fun fact I just learned: The designer who designed Laura Bush's 2001 inaugural ball gown was then best known for designing the mini worn by the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders.

As far as Hillary's past inaugural performances have gone, I much preferred 1997: