Hillary Clinton to reassert herself with high-profile speech

Washington, July 15 (ANI): Aides of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have said that she is ready to articulate her own policy agenda, one that focuses in part on strengthening Americans' capacity for what has been called "smart power."

According to Politico, her he speech to the Council on Foreign Relations on Wednesday is expected to serve as an explanation and framework of the administration's foreign policy and a tour of its busy first half-year.

But it will sound some themes closely associated with Clinton's former life as first lady and U.S. senator.

"She is bringing the concept of 'it takes a village' to foreign policy," said Brookings Institution President Strobe Talbott, invoking the title of a well-received book that Clinton wrote while her husband was in the White House.

"She thought it was a good time to try to give a framing speech to take some perspective, talk about what we have been doing, what we plan to do - the administration and her as secretary - and how these issues fit together as part of a larger strategy," said an administration official familiar with the draft speech, who said it would tour a breakneck half-year's diplomatic efforts everywhere from Iran to North Korea, Iraq, Pakistan, and the Middle East.

The speech will include "strong discussion of development and a forward-looking overview of how we think about U.S. relations with [and] management of the great powers in a way that gets more comprehensive than what they are doing on this or that crisis," said another Democratic foreign policy official.

Officials at the White House and State Department reject the notion that Clinton has been marginalized - and note that much of the low profile is of Clinton's choosing. (ANI)