This morning, Hillary Clinton attended a White House ceremony to watch Barack Obama sign his first bill into law: the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act. That act reverses a 2007 Supreme Court decision that narrowed the statute of limitations on filing pay discrimination suits.

Hillary Clinton was one of the initial co-sponsors of the Senate legislation (later blocked by Republicans) that sought to change this decision and, in one of her few official acts before being confirmed as Secretary of State, signed on as an original co-sponsor again this year. She appeared with Lilly Ledbetter to rally for the legislation, spoke about the act on the floor of the Senate, and proclaimed its importance during her speech at the Democratic National Convention. She's no doubt delighted at the bill's success. Also in attendance: Nancy Pelosi and Michelle Obama.

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Elizabeth Moore at Long Island's Newsday has a rather eloquent eulogy to Hillary Clinton's Senate career, with quotes of praise from some of Clinton's most vociferous former enemies. I have to say: Guys! She's only just getting started!

She was nothing short of phenomenal," says former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, one of the first lady's chief tormentors during the 1990s as chairman of a Senate committee that held hearings on the Whitewater scandal.

"She was at first viewed as a celebrity dilettante," D'Amato says now. "By dint of her absolute total dedication, she made New Yorkers believers."

If you don't know why it's a big deal for D'Amato to call Clinton a phenomenal senator well in advance of an actual eulogy, you might want to hearken back to those aforementioned Whitewater hearings, in which D'Amato accused Clinton of being a pathological liar involved in Vince Foster's suicide. Oh, and lying under oath. D'Amato hopes you don't dig up those transcripts, though.

Moore recalls the worst slurs against Clinton, including the mean-spirited obsession with her hairstyles (we mostly just want to know if we could ever afford her colorist!), the infamous cookie-baking gaffe, the utter failure of Hillarycare, and the somewhat blind loyalty that allowed her to discard Occam's razor in L'affaire Lewinsky and blame the "vast right wing conspiracy" -- which, having been subjected to it for the past eight years, most people would agree is giving the right far more credit than is deserved. But Moore also notes how Hillary managed to turn it all around in time to make 18 millions cracks and ascend to the Secretary of State perch more popular than ever.

Clinton's coiffure found peace in the Senate, a chamber where she carved out a reputation as a collegial centrist who could pray over breakfast with men who'd voted to impeach her husband, vote to authorize an invasion of Iraq, and be counted on as the best-prepared person at any meeting. Here in New York, that "listening tour" presaged a tenure that would carry the motorcade to an estimated 4,600 events around the state's 62 counties, including 96 visits to Long Island - a schlepping record respectable even compared to her Senate colleague Charles Schumer.

After days of wrangling, objections by Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn-- and a day's delay to accommodate a full Senatorial roll call vote  -- the Senate just voted to confirm Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, 94-2. Those two nay votes came from Vitter and South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint -- but not from Cornyn, who was the one to insist on a roll call vote in the first place, or Coburn, both of whom voted in favor of Clinton.

Vitter, who famously moralized about needing to impeach Bill Clinton for his moral failings and then was caught patronizing prostitutes, couldn't even get his comrades-in-arms to support his anti-Clinton protest vote. All this delay came strictly so that Vitter, Cornyn, Coburn, and DeMint could thumb their noses at her. How statesman-like. In any event, here she goes!

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Glenn Thrush at Politico reports that some Republicans are planning to hold up Hillary Clinton's confirmation vote because of their desire for more timely Clinton Foundation disclosures. Texas Republican John Cornyn (the incoming head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee) and Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn have both publicly expressed dissatisfaction with Hillary's answers at her Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing to questions about renegotiating the Memorandum of Understanding between the foundation and the Obama transition team. Those concerns, of course, were the reasons David Vitter gave for his vote against Clinton at the committee hearing.

Although neither Vitter, Cornyn, or Coburn will be able to filibuster Clinton's nomination, they can disrupt tomorrow's planned vote in the Senate. Majority Leader Harry Reid had scheduled it as a Unanimous Consent vote, which means that most senators need not be in attendance for the measure to pass and no one need vote individually.

However, if one senator in attendance objects, the majority leader is obliged to hold a full vote and record inviduals senators' votes -- and most of the Senate plans to be out and about for the Inauguration tomorrow. This means that the full vote (which Hillary is unlikely to lose) would occur, at the earliest, on Wednesday. And it will give guys like Vitter, Cornyn, and Coburn to register yet another vote against Bill Hillary Clinton.

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Hillary Clinton just took to the floor of the Senate to give her final speech as the Senator from New York, wearing what is totally one of my favorite suits of hers (the royal blue). As befits both the departing senator from New York and, by all accounts, the soon-to-be secretary of state, she spoke at length about the events on September 11th and the aftermath, which has shaped so much of this country's foreign policy over the last 7 years. But she also took a moment to rib Senator Chuck Schumer about his penchant for television cameras and some rural senators for not knowing about New York's farmers.

Those brought a couple of moments of levity to an otherwise somber and heartfelt speech, during which Hillary seemed occasionally close to tearing up as she bid farewell to a job and an institution that seemingly brought her far more professional fulfillment than any before.

Despite an early offer from Chairman John Kerry to sit behind the senators so that her mom could see her smiling face during the long hours of testimony, Chelsea Clinton sat just behind her mother's right shoulder throughout the course of the hearing with her perfect posture, her impossibly perfect hair, and a magenta wool dress that I desperately coveted from 20 feet away.

But the chairman's offer wasn't the last time her name came up in the hearing. Several of the assembled senators -- perhaps at the behest of their majority-male staff -- made mention of Kerry's internship/seating offer throughout the hearing, which Chelsea acknowledged with a faint smile and a firm commitment to stay close to her mother. Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson, who had the first post-lunch question, mentioned how proud Hillary was of her daughter and that she would undoubtedly like to see some grandchildren soon -- and Chelsea didn't even claw his eyes out.

The only time I saw more than a hint of Chelsea's profile, though, was during her mother's battle of wits with the unarmed David Vitter, when I could have sworn her (perfectly made-up) lips sneered ever so slightly at him. Mostly I just stared at her hair and bemoaned the fact that I will never be able to get mine to look like that.

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Jr. Louisiana Sen. David Vitter -- best known for patronizing the services of the now-deceased D.C. Madam, as well as prostitutes closer to the Louisiana home he shares with his wife -- decided to take on the role of attack chihuahua on the issue of the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative. He came prepared with two posterboards about the disclosures agreed to under the Memoradum of Understanding (MOU) between the transition group and the foundation...and virtually no substantive knowledge about the foundation or the MOU that he didn't glean in a couple of cocktail-fueled conversations with Hillary detractors.

Vitter's rather nit-picky and difficult-to-follow criticisms of the disclosure agreement -- which Hillary Clinton pointed out was above and beyond anything legally required -- seemingly came down to the fact that...oh, who are we kidding. Vitter doesn't like Bill Clinton, he's suspicious of the foundation, and he was trying to do something to get a little press coverage as the first person to hurl some mud at Hillary Clinton. It was a poor prologue to Sen. Lugar's more thoughtful criticisms of what he termed the "perception problem" of taking (or continuing to take) foreign money for the programs that help poor countries buy HIV drugs. 

In addition, Hillary's explanations of how the whole thing works was interrupted by Vitter, who asked committee Chairman John Kerry that her explanation of how the MOU will function and how the foundation works not come out of his question time. That was both the only time I've ever heard a senator (or a congressman) ask that a witness's answer not come out of his allotted question time and one of very few times I've ever seen John Kerry express human emotion (severe annoyance and disbelief that Vitter would ask), which would seem to confirm that Vitter was far more interested in making the 6:00 news than getting any understanding of how anything is going to work when Hillary is confirmed as secretary of state.

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California Sen. Barbara Boxer led off her line of questioning with what was arguably one of the most interesting parts of the hearing so far -- a question about how Hillary Clinton would translate her long-standing commitment to international women's issues to substantive action at the State Department. Boxer cited one of Nicholas Kristof's recent columns about sex trafficking in Cambodia (which I'm sure you've read already!) and the apparent increase in acid attacks on women in South Asia, among other problems.

Although much of Hillary Clinton's testimony, and even her answers, have been vetted by the Obama administration -- which doesn't necessarily make for particularly heartfelt speech -- this answer was the first time that she was really speaking from the heart. She, too, is a fan of Kristof's columns and his work in the developing world, and she thinks that there is much that she as the secretary of state and that the Department of State can do to make the world better for people who, as Boxer said, "were born female." Her commitment to and interest in international women's rights isn't just a talking point; it's obviously something about which she feels strongly and on which she clearly plans to work with a great deal of focus and vigor.

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By most measures, this a strong opening statement from Hillary. A few highlights so far:

• "America cannot solve the most pressing problems on our own, and the world cannot solve them without America."
• "I believe American leadership has been wanting, but is still wanted.''
• "The president-elect and I understand and are deeply sympathetic to Israel's desire to defend itself under the current conditions, and to be free of shelling by Hamas rockets."
• "I don't get up every morning thinking only about the threats...[but] the possibilities in front of us."
• "...Obama is committed to responsibly ending the war in Iraq."
• "We must use what has been called 'smart power,' the full range of tools at our disposal. With 'smart power,' diplomacy will be the vanguard of foreign policy."
• Quoting a Roman poet on diplomacy: "'In every endeavor, the seemly course for wise men is to try persuasion first.' The same truth binds women as well."

Hillary has always inspired as much devotion on the left as she has wild-eyed ranting/irrational hatred on the right. But her nearly-successful run for the Democratic presidential nomination brought her a new group of dedicated fans, as well as a cheering section that all but abandoned real support of her and her political views once the race was over.

For those people, some of whom adopted the acronym P.U.M.A. (or Party Unity My A** in response to calls by Democrats -- including Hillary -- to come together to elect Barack Obama), there is no president who could be better than Hillary, no vice presidential pick that wasn't a slight. Some of them would even call the secretary of state slot a "safe, expected place for a woman to be," in order to denigrate the selection of yet another woman for the position, even if that woman is Hillary Clinton.

For them, calling Barack Obama a feminist -- as this month's Ms. cover does -- is a slap in the face to everything they believe in, which, at this point, has little to do with the policies and principles for which Hillary has fought much of her political life. For many of these supposed supporters, their support for Hillary stopped being about Hillary or her political future many months ago. And as many of them are political neophytes, tomorrow's hearing will be about who abused their supposed idol or asked her too-tough questions or proved themselves to be sexist by asking her questions as though - gasp - she were any other nominee for the position.

The rest of her supporters, well, they'll be checking out her suit and her hair and listening to what she has to say about Gaza, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Darfur, Russia, Georgia, 3 AM phone calls and all the rest of it. And we'll be here tomorrow to help with that.

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The Bill Issue promises to be the biggest potential land mine at tomorrow's hearing. Yesterday, the NYT editorial board strongly encouraged the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to ask more than softball questions when it comes to Bill's foundation:

The roster of donors to Mr. Clinton’s presidential library and global foundation enterprises include million-dollar-plus contributions from governments in the Middle East, tycoons from India, Nigeria, Ukraine and Canada, and international figures with interests in the policies Mrs. Clinton will be helping to write and carry out.

The five-page accord signed by representatives of Mr. Clinton and Mr. Obama could use tightening. For example, the wording calls for disclosure of “new contributors” to Clinton Foundation programs. It does not necessarily require disclosing the size of their gifts or the dates they were made. Disclosure of Mr. Clinton’s charitable fund-raising and relevant private fees should be done monthly, or at least quarterly, not just once a year.

The overarching principle should be prompt disclosure of the amount and source of all payments to any Clinton charity or to Mr. Clinton personally by any person or entity with a political or economic interest, real or perceived, in State Department decisions. Ideally, the White House counsel’s office would be assigned a larger role than envisioned in screening Mr. Clinton’s speaking and consulting deals before any check is received.

 

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are suggesting that Hillary will have an easy go of it next week during her confirmation hearing. From the AP:

I think she's a known commodity. She's been tested in a lot of ways," said Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "She expresses herself well, and I don't think she'll make any rookie mistakes." [...]

The lack of contention surrounding Clinton's nomination so far is at least in part a result of Senate protocol. Senators are generally willing to allow an incoming president to pick his Cabinet without too much interference.

They also tend to give a certain amount of leeway to one of their own; Clinton spent eight years as the junior senator from New York. While Republicans did not agree with her on such big-ticket political issues as health care and the economy, most GOP senators believe she worked well with them on day-to-day matters, according to Republican aides.

The vote on Hillary will probably take place later in the week, which puts the pressure on NY Gov. David Paterson to decide on her replacement.