Image via WikipediaDuring her visit to Australia, the Secretary of State had a fun chat with Hamish and Andy, the popular radio comedy dudes down under who run the Hamish and Andy Show.
Listen here or download Hamish & Andy - Best Of Monday 8th November (Download this clip) The transcript excerpted below is funny enough but you gotta listen to the clip to hear HRC's sparkling laughter.
QUESTION: It’s a best before rather than a use by, so it may be it’s a rough guide. (Laughter.) Well, thank you so much for joining us first of all, Secretary Clinton. And you’re traveling around doing these conversations with predominantly young people. Probably a serious question out of the way first: Is the impetus for these trips that you feel this sort of a mismatch or imbalance, perhaps, between the way American is perceived and as you as the Secretary of State are the conduit to the rest of the world from America with how America’s perceived and what America’s message is?
SECRETARY CLINTON: I think that’s a fair question and I would say yes. I think that for young people today, this is such a busy, almost over stimulated, environment that you all come to maturity in and I think the United States has a deep understanding among people who are older because of the military alliances, the wars we’ve fought against totalitarianism in the 20th century and the like. But for young people, there’s a lot of other things going on and --
QUESTION: The Kardashians give us a lot of our (inaudible) import.
SECRETARY CLINTON: The Kardashians, exactly. If you look at American TV as much of the rest of the world does, you would think we all went around wrestling and wearing bikinis. I mean, that’s what you would think we spend our entire day --
[...]
QUESTION: It all requires excellent patience, great negotiation skills. Your husband also possesses those qualities. When you two can’t agree on what to get for takeaway dinner, who wins out in that type of negotiation?
SECRETARY CLINTON: We practice different models of negotiation around important issues like that.
QUESTION: Yeah.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Because if I were to say to him, as I have on many occasions, “What shall we have for dinner tonight?” If he says to me, “Oh, I don’t care; you choose,” I know that’s a really bad answer, because then I’m stuck with the responsibility.
QUESTION: Yeah.
SECRETARY CLINTON: So I will come back and I’ll say, “All right. Well, so how do you feel about Chinese -- “
QUESTION: Oh, good.
SECRETARY CLINTON: “ -- or Mexican or Italian?” And if he says a second time, “I really, really don’t care,” then I will go choose. Now, contrarily, if he says to me, “What do you want for dinner tonight,” I will say, “What do you want?” Then he’ll go, “Well, I was thinking of maybe picking up some Thai.” And if I’m in a good humor, I’ll say, “That’s fine.” But if I am feeling not enthusiastic about Thai, I’ll say, “Well, maybe we should consider something else.” And he’ll say, “Well, then you choose.” (Laughter.)
QUESTION: Do you ever eat before midnight? (Laughter.)
SECRETARY CLINTON: We are very late eaters. Yes, we do. I mean, this could go on -- this goes on for some time.
QUESTION: You want to make sure people don’t know that he had half of the conversation, because you’ve got former President talking to the current Secretary of State, how do you feel about Chinese -- (laughter) -- I don’t know. I don’t really like Chinese. That could be catastrophic.
SECRETARY CLINTON: That’s why we have our rooms swept every day. (Laughter.)
[...]
QUESTION: Well, I mean, in your role now as Secretary of State, you have such high-level meetings and also as First Lady and U.S. senator, have you ever said the phrase, “You’ve just made a very powerful enemy?” (Laughter.)
SECRETARY CLINTON: No, but I’ve thought it. (Laughter.)
QUESTION: What’s a nicer way to say it. Do you just have to go -- (laughter).
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I’ve learned diplo-speak. I’ve become very --
QUESTION: Because I suppose that’s a pretty big threat.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Yes, well, but you can say -- when someone says --
QUESTION: If I just -- say I just crossed the United States of America --
SECRETARY CLINTON: Yes, right.
QUESTION: -- horribly, how would you sort of convey that message to me?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I live by the old adage, "don’t get mad; get even". So you don’t want to jump any conclusions. You don’t want to be saying, “We have a lot of military (inaudible).” No, you don’t do any of that. You just -- what you try to do is to convince people that what you think is good for the country that you’re visiting and good for the world they should as well.
[...]
QUESTION: I am just in a nutshell, there are some hot spots, there are some cold spots, things are okay.
SECRETARY CLINTON: That’s right. See, I’ve got this Goldilocks theory of foreign relations. It’s not too hot; it’s not too cold. You’ve got to get it just right.
[...]
QUESTION: I ran into my neighbor yesterday as I was taking party supplies into my house. And he said, “Are you having a barbeque?” I said, “Yes.” And he’s currently not invited, but now he knows that a barbeque is on. We have, on a microscale, we have diplomatic tensions.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Yeah, you do. You have a potential hot spot next door.
QUESTION: We have a hostile neighbor. And we have a shared wall, too.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, the path of least resistance is to invite him.
QUESTION: He’s not a good mix. He’s not a good match.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Not a good match.
QUESTION: We sort of -- I don’t want to call him a rogue dissident, but --
SECRETARY CLINTON: How about this -- yeah, well, why don’t you take him over some barbeque?
QUESTION: And that’s why you are the Secretary of State of the United States of America. Thank you for joining.
Read full transcript of the Secretary's talk with Hamish and Andy | Mon, 08 Nov 2010 13:06:13 -0600
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