Hillary Clinton: Obama first, now poverty

by Mark Silva

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton held the infield today at the new Yankee Stadium. "Does it get getter than this?'' she asked her audience.

And the former senator from New York may have hit one out of the park, as the commencement speaker at New York University's graduation, suggesting that everyone who had used their social networks to help elect Barack Obama president should turn that e-power toward doing good for other people.

(That would be the Obama whom she attempted to defeat in the Democratic primaries of 2008. The president will address the graduating class of Arizona State University tonight, the graduating class of the University of Notre Dame on Sunday, and the graduates of the U.S. Naval Academy.)

Clinton called on NYU's 6,000 graduates to engage in world affairs, suggesting that abstaining only will "cede the field to those whose ideologies are absolutely anathema to people of conscience and faith all over the world."

(Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, hooded as she received an honorary degree at New York University's commencement today, addressed the graduating class at Yankee Stadium in New York. Photo by Emmanuel Dunand / AFP / Getty Images)

She cited the perils that climate change, disease and global nuclear proliferation pose in the modern world, calling on all to take these challenges seriously: "At the root of my conviction is a strong sense of reality -- we don't have a choice... We can sit on the sidelines, we can wring our hands, we can retreat into cynicism, and we know what the result will be."

The ceremony was held on the infield of the new Yankee Stadium, where the crowd cheered the secretary who arrived to address the class and receive an honorary degree of her own. And, it appeared she may have been speaking to the choir:

"Many of you, I know, used social networking platforms to make Barack Obama the president of the United States," Clinton said to cheers. She urged them to use the same tools to help eradicate poverty and organize against repressive political ideologies.