Vanity Fair Article: Hilary Clinton, Woman of the World

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2011/06/hillary-clinton-201106?printable=true

VANITY FAIR runs a super-positive piece about Secretary Clinton, by Jonathan Alter – “Woman of the World: In her ninth year as America’s most admired woman, Hillary Clinton is dealing with radical change across the globe, as well as trying to transform U.S. diplomacy on the nuts-and-coffee level. But despite the secretary of state’s punishing pace-half a million miles in her Boeing 757-and the complex relationship between her and President Obama, Clinton seems clear about what she can (and can’t) accomplish, and, as Jonathan Alter reports, her friends are clear about something else: Madam Secretary is in her element”:
“For most of her thousands of hours in the air, Hillary changes out of her trademark pantsuit (yellow is her favorite color for clothes and in the décor of her homes) into a fleece top and sweats. Meals consist largely of fruit and vegetables (she has a special taste for hot peppers) and maybe a scotch or Bloody Mary. ‘Don’t bring me the dessert!’ she loudly tells the flight attendants only moments before sauntering into the staff cabin, brownie already in hand: ‘I know-I’ve been bad.’ Occasional cupcakes with candles are also exempt because Hillary is religious about observing staff birthdays. She resists movies (despite a weakness for anything with Meryl Streep, especially Out of Africa), reads yet more briefing papers than she’s already consumed in Washington, scans news on an iPad, and sometimes manages a few pages of a mystery, but mostly she sleeps, without any pills, often right through landing. ‘If she couldn’t sleep most of the way,’ says Philippe Reines, … ‘she wouldn’t be able to function.’
“When she travels, Hillary manages to be simultaneously remote from the media (joint press conferences with foreign ministers are limited to two questions for each) and accessible to the public. Unless a crisis obliterates her schedule, she routinely subjects herself to what Reines infelicitously calls ‘townterviews,’ a combination of university town meeting and television interview featuring a group of effusive local journalists, students, and faculty. The format allows her to promote civil society and human rights without getting in the face of the country’s leaders. Often a questioner will refer to her in fractured English as ‘President Clinton.’ In Asia, this can be especially mortifying for the shy audience. She’ll cheerfully reply ‘I wish!’ or ‘Almost!’ to disarm the situation, before going on to explain how her serving in the government of the man who defeated her is a sign of democracy’s strength. Almost every trip includes meeting with leading women from local NGOs, many of whom line up to tell Hillary with what little English they can muster how inspirational she has been to their efforts.”