Clinton's 100 days: the mileage

Posted By Laura Rozen Thursday, April 23, 2009 - 11:10 PM Share

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hits her 100 day mark on May 1st, a few days after President Obama. Aides are proudly noting that just shy of 90 days, her travel mileage so far as the country's top diplomat is 57,622 miles.

Clinton has gone to Japan, China, South Korea, Indonesia, Mexico, Egypt, Israel, Belgium, Switzerland, Turkey, Holland, the UK, France, Germany, Czech Republic, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago on six international trips since taking office. (You can keep track here.)

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "is the reigning record-holder for miles traveled in the first 100 days in office," one Clinton aide said. "Not only is HRC outpacing Rice on miles traveled, she's also edging out Rice on solo trips," without the prez.

Not so fast, says an aide to Rice. "By day 85, Secretary Rice had traveled 74,701 miles," e-mails Colby J. Cooper, chief of staff in Rice's office at Stanford's Hoover Institution, pointing to these stats. "On Secretary Rice's day 100 she was starting her 9th trip, with the President to Latvia, The Netherlands, Russia, and Georgia."

Beyond the display of endurance, give or take a few thousand miles, Politico's Ben Smith notes today, Clinton has seemingly earned the respect of several partisans and operatives from the heated Democratic primary campaign opposition camp previously unsympathetic to her. "She was just effective every day," former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said today, according to Smith. "I think that it impressed the president."

UPDATE: Just to prove there are no quick, innocuous items of, let's face it, relative meaninglessness, a colleague writes: "I just crunched the numbers ... If you add up all the miles for Rice's first hundred days, you get 90,865. She also far exceeds Clinton on number of trips and--what i think is most important--days out of the country. That's how i always did the travel stats." FP regrets the error and all that. Really! Now, please, onto the torture memos. Send the wiretap transcripts. Maybe some strategic arms reductions treaties.

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FACILITY

2:03 PM ET

April 24, 2009

I am getting awfully tired

of all of these backhanded compliments being offered to HRC, how everyone is coloring themselves so surprised at how gracious and effective she has been. The woman is a PROFESSIONAL. She is tenacious and smart and hard-working and has never not been those things. It's insulting that this person who is the public face of the country to the rest of the world is still being subtly undermined by the very people she is working her tush off to represent. Grrr.

ANNE

12:49 AM ET

April 27, 2009

All they can do is criticize

All they can do is criticize her, it's all the media knows. not an original bone in their bodies. sad.

CHRIS BROWN

8:56 PM ET

April 24, 2009

Amen

"Now, please, give me the torture memos! Send the wiretap transcripts! Maybe some strategic arms reductions treaties!"

Or, how about, something exploring Clinton's effectiveness during her travels.