What about Sec. Clinton’s First 100 Days?

With all the media hype surrounding President Obama’s first 100 days in office, it seems like Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's first 100 days have been somewhat overlooked.

Interestingly, the State Department posted a 100-day report outlining Secretary Clinton’s accomplishments.  The report also provides an overview of public diplomacy accomplishments, stating that engaging in public diplomacy is a priority and that some “early and significant progress” has been made in that area.  Here is the section of the report, specifically focusing on public diplomacy:

“Placed New Emphasis on People-to-People Diplomacy: While Secretary Clinton and the entire State Department are engaged in vigorous government-to-government diplomacy, Secretary Clinton has also invested unprecedented amounts of time and energy into engaging in people-to-people diplomacy in countries with whom we seek partnerships.

Hosted Town Halls, Webcasts, Roundtables, and More: On the first day of Secretary Clinton’s first trip, she hosted a town hall meeting with students at University of Tokyo where she answered questions from a diverse group of students ranging from US-Tokyo relations and the financial crisis, to nuclear power and gender equality. The Tokyo Town Hall launched a series of town halls hosted by Secretary Clinton at a university in Seoul, South Korea, in Brussels with European Parliament interns, and in Mexico via webcast with students across 40 educational campuses. Secretary Clinton has also hosted roundtable discussions with women leaders in Seoul and Beijing, students and teachers in Mexico and the West Bank, and with women entrepreneurs in Israel.

Leveraged Non-Traditional Media to Reach New Audiences: Through non-traditional media, Secretary Clinton is spreading the Administration’s broader diplomatic efforts by targeting audiences previously ignored. Secretary Clinton’s interview on the Turkish version of ‘The View’ reportedly caused positive ripples throughout the country. The Secretary’s appearance on the Indonesian pop culture television program, ‘Awesome,’ reached youth throughout the world’s most populous Muslim nation and beyond and her appearance on Telehit, the MTV of Mexico, likely targeted audiences otherwise unaware of her goals visiting Mexico.”  

Reviews for Secretary Clinton’s work so far have been mostly positive, but it remains to be seen how much of a priority engaging in public diplomacy will truly be for the State Department over the next four years.  After learning about the importance of practicing effective public diplomacy and the benefits it yields, I am hoping for the best.

Diplomacy by Invitation

Secretary Clinton means business in redefining the role of the Secretary of State. With one of the Secretary's new tools, anyone can get on the Internet and keep track of the Secretary's carbon footprint (she's up to 57,944 miles traveled thus far). In case you were curious to know where she calls home, you can't miss the only American flag visible from space which marks home at the headquarters.

Seriously, though, this is a pretty powerful tool that allows you to access the Secretary's itinerary as well as links to related material on the trip. This is important because it definitely diminishes the traditional distance that stands between the everyday person and their representatives. Here, you have a tool that caters to domestic and foreign "publics" alike.

The Secretary is distinguishing not only the Office of the Secretary of State, but also herself as Secretary of State. This innovation atop the Department sets a high bar for the lower level PD folks.

UPDATE:

Hillary Clinton wows young Europeans at a town hall meeting with 1,000 attendees locally, but interactive connection through Adobe Acrobat Connect to attendees at 39 embassies. I am not altogether familiar with this application, but from the description, you can literally host real-time discussions using graphics that can be displayed and edited in real-time amongst participants at remote sites. It's commonly used for distance learning programs and the like. You gotta love how she has covered so many thousands of miles to reach out to a diverse range of publics and still she comes across this guy:

One European observer said: "I'm relieved she didn't get the nomination, she's not as good as Obama. But still, a class act."

Thank you One European Observer, may I have another.