Media

Secretary Clinton, above talking with Pakistanis in Islamabad today, will be on PBS's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer tonight (check local listings for the exact time). She was interviewed in Islamabad today by the NewsHour's Margaret Warner. I've read the transcript, and Clinton says a lot of important things about her time in Pakistan this week and U.S. and Pakistani efforts to go after extremists. I'm not allowed to post the entire transcript, but here's how the interview begins:

Warner: Secretary Clinton, thanks for being with us. Now you've been to Pakistan many times but never as Secretary of State, never at such a volatile time.

Clinton: Right.

Warner: Was there anything unexpected that you found here? Something that you didn't imagine?

Clinton: Well, Margaret it, it wasn't that I found here anything unexpected. It was that I knew before I came that we had our work cut out for us, that there was a level of um, mistrust and misunderstanding uh that I wanted to tackle head-on. I have a great deal of admiration uh, for uh, the culture and the history and the struggle of the people of Pakistan. But what became clear in the time that I've been Secretary of State, is that there was an enormous number of questions about our motive, our intention, our actions that had been built up over the last 8 years. So I wanted to try to address those and go out and meet people and hear and listen and have a really, a good dialogue which I think we've had.

Secretary Clinton will be on ABC's Nightline at 11:35 p.m. (U.S. Eastern time) tonight. Her interview was taped earlier today in Moscow, and if you can't watch it, you can read an edited transcript here. In the interview, Clinton discusses important issues such as Afghanistan strategy and Iran. As the clip above shows, she also mentions that she "absolutely" would have asked Barack Obama to be in her cabinet had she been elected president last year.

Video: Politico

Secretary Clinton hasn't been shy about pushing for human rights and openness in Russia. Yesterday she met with human rights activists and opposition journalists in Spaso House, the residence of the U.S. ambassador to Russia. Today, she did an interview on Ekho Moskvy radio (great photos here) in which she continued to press for human rights.

During the interview (transcript here), she said:

I have no doubt in my mind that democracy is in Russia's best interests, that respecting human rights, an independent judiciary, a free media are in the interests of building a strong, stable political system that provides a platform for broadly shared prosperity. We will continue to say that and we will continue to support those who also stand for those values."

Referring to the killing of journalists in Russia, which she discussed at Spaso House, Clinton said:

I mentioned the killings of journalists, and I said that this is a matter of grave concern not just to the United States, but to the people of Russia, and not just to the activists, but to people who worry that unsolved killings are a very serious challenge to order and to the fair functioning of society, and that we did not believe that enough was being done to make sure that no one had impunity from prosecution who might have been involved in any such criminal acts."

It's great that Clinton spoke up for human rights and didn't let realpolitik get in the way, as some accuse her of doing in China in February.

Photo: Valeriy Yevseyev, U.S. State Deptartment

GQ magazine has published a list of the 50 most powerful people in D.C., and Secretary Clinton is only No. 18! As my colleague Blake Hounshell writes at FP's Passport, it's a snub to rank her after CIA Director Leon Panetta, former Vice President Dick Cheney (who's no longer in office), and various members of Congress (such as Barney Frank). I guess it gets back to that whole low-profile question.

Although Clinton has been busy promoting peace in Northern Ireland and reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia, she was able to make time to broker a peace between late-night comedian Conan O'Brien and Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, N.J., who was recently offended by one of Conan's jokes. In a video clip, Clinton attributed the squabble to Conan's recent head injury. The transcript it here.

Secretary Clinton was on NBC's Today show this morning. She made some boilerplate remarks that President Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize due to "his attitude toward America's role in the world" and that the award is "not going to influence" his decisions regarding Afghanistan. (She of course has to say those kinds of things; Obama's her boss.)

Then Clinton addressed the thorn-in-her-side issue that she supposedly has too low a profile in the Obama administration. She said the claim was "absurd" and that it was "so at variance with what I do every day." (She did just save the day on the Turkey-Armenia accord and promote peace in Northern Ireland -- all in the one weekend after Obama won the Nobel.) She explained that U.S. foreign policy doesn't have to be "me, me, me" 24/7, stating:

Maybe there is some misunderstanding which needs to be clarified. I believe in delegating power. … I am not one of those people who feel I have to have my face in front of the newspaper and on the TV every moment of the day. … It's just the way I am. My goal is to be a very positive force to implement the kind of changes that the president and I believe are in the best interest of our country, but that doesn't mean that it has to be me, me, me all the time. I like lifting people up."

When asked if she'll run for president again, she laughed and simply stated, "no."

Video: Today show, NBC

A roundup of Clinton-related news:

•Former first lady Laura Bush expressed admiration for Secretary Clinton during a talk in Dallas on Monday:

Our [political] campaigns are so long and so brutal that the people who finally win are almost self-selected because they have emotional and physical stamina to run for office. As I watched Hillary Clinton during her run, I had and have a lot of admiration for her. It's tough every day. It's not just physical or emotional, but just the chance of saying one thing that gets blown up by the media."

•Clinton spoke with CBS' Katie Couric yesterday.

•In a video message, Clinton says she wants you to help girls and women through www.Oprah.com/forallwomen.

•"Criminality of the greatest degree" is how Clinton has described the rapes and killings by government forces in Guinea.

•Clinton met yesterday in Washington with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Medmood Qureshi, above, to discuss U.S. aid to the Pakistani government and the Afghanistan situation. Clinton stressed that the $7.5 billion Kerry-Lugar bill, which provides nonmilitary aid to Pakistan for five years and was approved by U.S. Congress last week, will not infringe on Pakistan's sovereignty.

Photo: TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images

Secretary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates' interview with Christiane Amanpour and GWU's Frank Sesno will be on CNN today at 3 p.m. U.S. Eastern time (7 p.m. GMT on CNN International).

Last night, I was able to watch in person their interview at George Washington University and, as expected, they gave intelligent responses to important questions on Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. At the end, a young man -- presumably a GWU student -- screamed, "I love you, Hillary Clinton!" (You probably won't see that part on CNN.)

Clinton once again reiterated that she, Gates, and President Obama have a harmonious working relationship, saying:

Henry Kissinger … said that it was the first time that he found that the, you know, State Department, the White House, and the Defense Department mostly through Bob [Gates] and me and -- and General [James] Jones -- were all saying the same thing.

"Now that doesn't mean we don't have differences of opinion or see issues from slightly different perspectives, but we have an enormous amount of respect for each other, we listen to each other, and we work through, give our best advice to the president and then support the president's decision."

Referring to the recent talks in Geneva between Iran, the United States, and five other countries over Iran's nuclear program, Sesno asked, "Do you think the Iranians actually want to resolve this?"

Clinton candidly replied, "We don't know yet. We don't know."

When Sesno asked about criticism that the talks were just another way for the Iranians to buy time, Clinton responded:

Does it buy time? It buys time. It buys time for us to consider carefully their response, the sincerity of their actions, and, you know, we're moving simultaneously on the dual track. I mean, we always said we had a track of engagement, and we have begun that with this process, but we also said we would be working with like-minded nations and convincing others to stand ready with tougher sanctions were we not successful."

Meanwhile, Gates said on Iran:

The only long-term solution to this problem, at the end of the day, is the Iranians themselves deciding having nuclear weapons is not in their interest. And if we can't convince them of that, then an array of other options are open."

Also a giant, approving applause burst out when Gates said:  

The American toolbox should contain something other than hammers."

To learn about the other tools that Gates and Clinton think should be in the toolbox, check out CNN today.

Photo: JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images