A candid ‘Conversation in Manila’ with Hillary Clinton

She came, she chatted away, and generally charmed the packed room of some 100 students and bloggers who were fortunate enough to get invited to “A Conversation in Manila" with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday. With the paintings of National Artist Botong Francisco as a fitting backdrop at the National Museum, Mrs. Clinton candidly answered questions about her family, what’s inside her purse, and her brand of smartphone at the informal forum patterned after town hall meetings in her native United States. But ever the savvy diplomat, she deftly evaded questions about ex-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s travel predicament or what she thought about President Benigno Aquino III’s bachelor status, leaving it up to the country’s past and present leaders to sort out their concerns. On the whole, the forum struck what Mrs. Clinton called her favorite word – balance, between tough questions about China and the military posturing in the West Philippine Sea, to solicitations for advice to the youth on the use of social media.

Relaxed and very much in her element, Mrs. Clinton clearly enjoyed talking more about lighter stuff in this forum than more weighty policy issues. She lit up when asked about her daughter Chelsea and the fond memories they shared with her mother Dorothy, who passed away recently. But she turned serious when asked about her political plans, telling the audience she was done aspiring for either of America’s top two posts. “I will figure out other ways to serve," she mused. Taking a page from the experience of her husband, former US President Bill Clinton, who has been active in charity work and the lecture circuit, Mrs. Clinton said, “He knows that there’s life after politics and I’m looking forward to testing those waters." For women who want to enter politics, she spoke at length about “expectations and double standards" that come with gender bias, telling them to be prepared for criticisms and all kinds of accusations. Mrs. Clinton also shared former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt’s advice for would-be politicians: “grow a skin as thick as a rhinoceros’" to withstand the brickbats that will come their way. On her personal preferences, she confessed that her iPod contained “mostly music I grew up with... the Beatles, Rolling Stones, the Who, the Doors," and that when it comes to phones, “I’m a Blackberry person," no doubt to the chagrin of iPhone users. As for her iPad, she reads mostly news sites. Her candor showed up clearly when she talked about the US immigration system, which she agreed was “broken," as the Pulitzer prize-winning Filipino journalist Jose Antonio Vargas put it in a question via Skype. “I think of America as an idea as much as a place," she reflected, adding that one of the difficulties that the nation of immigrants faces is the huge number of people who want to enter the country, compared to other nations where people want to leave their native land. Mrs. Clinton’s comment on overseas Filipino workers also struck a chord with many viewers: “I always find it a little bit sad that so many of your people have to leave the country to find work." She segued to the Partnership for Growth agreement that she signed with the Philippine government during her overnight visit, saying it was a “demonstration of our confidence" in the country’s economic and political future. While the audience was applauding Mrs. Clinton’s optimism about the Philippines, one student suddenly stood up and started shouting slogans condemning the Mutual Defense Treaty, the basis for the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) that allows US troops to hold joint military exercises with Philippine soldiers. Many of the youth invited by the US embassy to the forum came from campus publications, and predictably, the protester turned out to be the editor-in-chief of the Philippine Collegian, the official student newspaper of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, which has long been known for radicalism. “May nakalusot," remarked someone at the back, and indeed we all wondered how anyone could get even a folded banner past the tight security at the entrance to the venue. “O tama na," an elderly female voice admonished as the student ranted on before security personnel escorted him out of the room. Unperturbed, Mrs. Clinton dismissed the protest as simply "what democracy is all about" and went on to answer a question from the audience without missing a beat. And unfortunately for the lone protester, none of the other students seemed to share his militant stance. After the forum, most of them rushed to the stage for a chance to shake hands with the woman whom Forbes magazine has named the second most powerful in the world, next only to Germany’s Angela Merkel. The one-hour informal forum ended in an upbeat mood, in contrast to more serious and formal press conferences where Mrs. Clinton is peppered with policy questions. For the mostly young audience in the room, it was a rare chance to get to know a world leader up close, iPod contents and all. - HS, GMA News “A Conversation in Manila" was organized by the US Embassy Manila in partnership with GMA News and PLDT.