Former First Lady, Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Boston Wednesday, speaking at an annual women’s leadership conference. Still considering another run for president in 2016, she talked about equal pay, international leadership, and her biggest regret as secretary of state.
Clinton told a sold-out crowd of female professionals that advancing girls' and women's equality is "the great unfinished business of the 21st century.”
“Women can drive our economy," she said. "They can lift up themselves, their family and indeed our entire country.”
She praised the annual Simmons Women’s Leadership Conference, emphasizing that, “Women have to support other women.”
And she talked about her observations of the needs and benefits of women’s work, safety and health in the countries she’s visited. She also talked about Benghazi and the loss of four Americans, including a U.S. ambassador, in 2012.
“It’s very, very painful and it was certainly the biggest regret that I had as secretary of state,” she said.
Clinton did not address whether she’ll run for president again. She and Vice President Joe Biden are leading polls as potential Democratic candidates. And Biden was in town last week for the Boston Marathon bombing memorial service. Clinton and Biden’s comments on the bombings echoed one another.
Clinton, on Wednesday: “Terrorists never, ever win. Well, that’s Boston, that’s America. I thank all of you for sending that message loudly and clearly.”
Biden, last week: “You are Boston Strong. But America is strong. They’re not unlike you, all around America. That’s what makes us so proud of this city and this state.”
While each was speaking to a local audience, they easily could have been addressing the entire country.
