Clinton to Outline Vision for Reinvigorated State

Will speak on Hill as confirmation hearings begin today

By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 13, 2009 6:58 AM CST

(Newser) – Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton marches into her Senate confirmation hearings today armed with sweeping plans to retake the ground State lost to the Defense department under President Bush, the Wall Street Journal reports. Clinton will advocate using “smart power,” a wide variety of economic and social diplomatic methods, rather than relying on “hard power,” or force.

Clinton wants more State involvement in US and global economic policy, and she'll likely push arms-control measures and a plan to catalog and secure nuclear material. She’ll probably be grilled on her husband’s foundation and potential conflicts of interest; but she can assuage such issues by asserting that she’s pushing Barack Obama’s diplomatic “vision,” the Journal notes.

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In this Oct. 12, 2008 file photo, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton stands with her husband, former President Bill Clinton, during a campaign rally in Scranton, Pa. (AP Photo/Jimmy May)

In this file photo from Monday, Dec. 1, 2008, President-elect Barack Obama leaves a Chicago news conference with Secretary of State-designate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-NY. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., meets with Secretary of State-designate, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-NY, Friday, Jan. 9, 2009, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

In this April 8, 2008, file photo Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-NY, listens to testimony on Capitol Hill in Washington from Gen. David Petraeus. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

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There are now two men whose calls I always take—Bill and Barack. - Hillary Clinton, after stepping away at a State Dept. briefing

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Clinton to Outline Vision for Reinvigorated State