Memories madeleine albright streisand how to#
Memories madeleine albright streisand professional#

Precisely because foreign policy is now so complicated, and sometimes necessarily ad hoc, the time may well have come for a secretary of state who can afford to react to events like a human being-with candor and earthy common sense. The world is a very different place today: crises are real but the stakes seem less apocalyptic. In the cold war, American diplomats chose their words very carefully not just because most of them were boring white males-though most of them were-but because one false step, in theory at least, could have cataclysmic consequences. Last week one State Department wag likened her whirlwind arrival at Foggy Bottom, and her promise of exciting new days, to a pledge to 'bring in 'da noise, bring in 'da funk.' Albright's color and dash are deeply refreshing in the stodgy world of foreign affairs. And so she does: whether it's blasting Fidel Castro for 'cowardice, not cojones,' or, after the Iraqi press dubbed her 'snake woman,' proudly donning a brooch-shaped like a snake. 'I tell it like it is,' the 59-year-old Czech refugee is fond of saying. The new secretary of state doesn't cloak her words in the oh-so-polite euphemisms of foreign policy. Madeleine Albright is not your father's diplomat.

The rest of America is starting to get the point, too. Cut the crap and behave yourselves.' Leslie Gelb, then a New York Times columnist, recalls that Albright's 'point was made.' Finally, Albright barked: 'I've had it with you guys. As she tried to offer a toast, though, the guests kept chattering. Her guests were top foreign-policy intellectuals-including some of her old bosses from the Carter years. Albright was ambassador to the United Nations, and her official residence atop New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel was all decked out. She was throwing a party for the new U.S. And, Judy, we will all miss her mightily.If there was a single moment when Madeleine Albright took her place in the Old Boys' Club, it came in March 1993.

Memories madeleine albright streisand professional#

She had close relationships on a bipartisan basis all of her professional life, and she prided herself on that. And even though she was clearly a committed Democrat, big D, as well as small D, she worked across the aisle.

Memories madeleine albright streisand how to#

She did know how to bring people along and bring people together. These were ex-foreign ministers from other foreign countries that she had worked with, primarily in Europe, but elsewhere, that she had formed close relationships with while she was ambassador and secretary of state.īut they maintained a network that stayed very close and did important policy work together and influenced the decision-making in their respective capitals. When she left office as secretary of state, she formed a group that she called Madeleine and her exes.

She had political skills, very well-crafted political skills.

She was well-positioned to do that coming out of the U.N., but she was a politician.Īnd she played her - and had - I shouldn't say she was a politician. Well, it's not a surprise that she was our first woman secretary of state. And that was one of the many, many important and unique aspects of her. She formed recently the Albright Institute for Global Affairs at her alma mater, Wellesley College, where her aim was to lift up and support the next generation of women. Not just me but all of her students at Georgetown, all of the many, many people in foreign policy and national security who looked up to her and had the benefit of her wisdom and support, and especially to young women. And there is not a single professional decision I made - I have made thus far in my life without the benefit of her advice and wisdom.Īnd we have heard so much from President Clinton and in your package about her extraordinary accomplishments as a diplomat, as a scholar, as a teacher, as a champion of democracy and human rights.īut one thing I really want to stress is what an incredible mentor she was to so many. And long before she was my boss, she was a role model as a professional woman in a field that I ended up joining in national security.īut she was also just a regular, warm, kind, supportive mother and friend. I was privileged to know Madeleine Albright from the time I was 4 years old. Susan Rice, White House Domestic Policy Adviser: