study to be wise

Friday, February 26, 2010

HRC

(Alex Wong/Getty)

I didn't get in.  When they closed the doors there was one guy in front of me and that's it.  Echoes of a South Carolina night two (!) years ago, when we were the next batch of people they were going to let in to the Obama victory speech and they shut the gates.  This time, Capitol Policeman said everyone was there just to see her, really, so it was unlikely anyone who got in was going to leave.  But I had gotten up at seven-thirty for this, and someone was depending on me to watch this hearing, and I mean, it was Hillary.  The line before she arrived was so long that I didn't really see her when she walked in, but her voice traveled down the hall when she greeted whoever welcomed her at the door.

"Hey, how are you?"

Just like it sounded (on TV) on the campaign trail.

So I waited.  The intern in front of me did, too.  And 45 minutes later, Capitol Policeman points to us and says, "Two."  He waved us in the direction of an aide or page or whatever you call the congressional staff who mind the doors of committee hearing rooms, and she told us one seat was in the back, the other in the front.  Maybe the intern in front of me was shy, maybe he just understood House decorum better than me, but he walked to the back so I had no choice.  Front.  Very front.  Ten feet from Hillary front.

I sat down next to a State Department staffer who for the first few minutes kept glancing over at me.  I thought he was wondering what some random Asian kid in a sweater was doing sitting in Hillaryland.  After the hearing, he recognized me by the vending machines in the Rayburn cafeteria and told me he was glancing over at me because the Secret Service agent next to him had been glancing over at me.  Apparently it looks suspicious when you sit down ten feet from the Secretary of State with your hand hidden inside a thick winter coat you folded over your arm as you sat down.  Oops.

For the next two hours, and then two more hours at a smaller hearing in the afternoon, I watched Hillary demolish the field.  At first I thought the Democrats who fawned over her in their opening statements were probably just old superdelegates of hers, but when even the Republicans couldn't seem to help but praise her, it was clear she was smarter than all of them and they knew it.

For the Representatives, it was an easy day's work.  They had a couple prepared questions about one or two countries and didn't have to pay attention to anything any of their colleagues were saying (and they didn't: truly awe inspiring to watch congresspeople thumbing away on their Blackberries with the Secretary of State in attendance).  It was like that gameshow from a couple years ago where a hundred former winners take on one new contestant.

She beat them all.

It was incredible.  Like Wikipedia for world affairs was running in her head.  Iran.  Iraq.  Afghanistan.  Pakistan.  The obvious ones, of course.  But then Armenia and Turkey.  Cyprus.  Russia and China.  Yemen.  Yemen.  Yemen.  Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Western Sahara.  Bosnia and Kosovo.  Israel and Gaza and Israel.  Refugees and internally displaced.  Orphans from Haiti.  A USAID worker detained in Cuba, a new embassy in London.  It was like the only problem in the world she didn't mention was what I was there for, but to be fair, she wasn't asked about it.

These weren't even things she was supposed to be talking about.  She was supposed to be talking about the budget, about the money State is requesting for 2011.  Instead, all these politicians who never get any facetime with her wanted to be able to say they asked Hillary Clinton a sexy question about Iran and nuclear weapons or Yemen and the Christmas Day bomber.  Well at least they don't get to say they stumped her.  Because she destroyed them.

One Republican asked her why there was foreign aid going to China, of all places.  She said it was earmarked for American organizations working in China.  He said something like, "So you're saying Congress forced it upon you."

And she said, "Those are your words, Congressman."

Another Republican asked her why a press report he read suggested State was cutting funds for the Millennium Challenge Corporation.  She said, uh, no we're not, I'm the Chair of the Board of Directors of the MCC and if you read the freaking budget we sent you in advance, you would see we want to increase funding for it by 15 per cent.  Then the guy asks, so the press report wasn't accurate?

And she's like, "Congressman, I don't know why I would ever doubt the accuracy of a press report."

Everyone laughs.  Republican gets nailed.

I was pretty down in the summer of 2007, when the Obamachine had lost its startup excitement and Hillary was up 30 or 40 points.  And I was really up that night in South Carolina two years ago, when she and Bill's crazy, finger-jabbing rants got whooped 55-27.  She could have never matched the magic of election night and the Inauguration, and I don't think she'd be doing any better of a job than he's doing right now.

But in January 2017, there isn't anyone else I want to be taking the Oath of Office but Madame President Hillary Rodham Clinton.  I just hope she ages better than McCain has.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Snomfg


After the snow stopped falling on Saturday afternoon, the weekend felt like a theme park, like those winter wonderland sets they put up in malls in Hong Kong that are so over the top with the fake houses and trees and gazebos that are marshmallowing with whiteness. Only this had poofy white toycars, too. And it was, like, real.





My street.



Monday was nice. Sunny, people happy to have the day off, appreciating what little transportation was available.


Today, I'm not so sure. Not sunny, people kind of like, huh? I'm gonna have the whole week off?


Across from the Indian Embassy. I thought he looked a little cold.


Him not so much.


Yeah ok.

The snow is back. Four inches already tonight. Six to eight more on the way. Snoverkill, for sure. This is getting a little psycho.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Snomageddon


Snow.


There was a cop to the left who yelled at these guys to "stop throwing the fucking snowballs."


More snow.


Lots of snow.

Friday, February 5, 2010

豉油雞飯



Snopocalypse. Nothing to do but stay at home. And try something new.



I am no chef. I am the family dishwasher. But step by step, I am sloshing through the snow-covered path along my quest to be able to cook my 10 favorite dishes of all time.



#4: 豉油雞飯. I am awesome.