Wow, I think I just heard our future first woman President giving a great interview

Gillibrand is both praised and criticized
January 24, 2009
http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/saturday/longisland/ny-polines246010659jan24,0,7659189.story

Battle lines were swiftly drawn Friday over the appointment of Kirsten Gillibrand, the pro-abortion rights, pro-Hillary, pro-gay marriage, pro-gun Blue Dog Democrat.

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But a new Web site was already mobilizing to organize the party's left wing behind a 2010 primary challenge to Gillibrand, organized by Jonathan Tasini, who opposed Clinton in the 2006 primary.

Gillibrand's positions on immigration were deemed "deeply troubling" in a statement issued by the Immigrant Coalition, an umbrella group that estimates it represents one of every five New York residents. The coalition said she backed requiring local police to take on immigration enforcement duties and spending more on border security but appeared to oppose any path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants - "positions that put her at odds with the majority of New Yorkers."

Gillibrand's gun positions have already drawn fire from Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola), a danger that Democratic strategists said should be taken seriously.

"If she has a primary, she could lose, because the initials 'NRA' are not things that people in New York City and the suburbs wear on chains around their necks," said Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who had been a strong supporter of Caroline Kennedy's bid for the Senate, Friday issued a statement noting his "strong disagreement" with Gillibrand on gun control.

"She has voted to keep critical data needed to track illegal gun traffickers from law enforcement, has voted to tie the hands of the ATF, and has also voted to protect dealers who sell guns illegally," Bloomberg said.

The Senate by voice vote Thursday confirmed Susan E. Rice as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Rice, 44, one of President Obama's top foreign policy advisers during the presidential campaign, is the second-youngest U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and the first African-American woman to hold the post.

Obama has signaled a desire to develop a closer U.S. relationship with the United Nations, including the elevation of the ambassador job to Cabinet-level status after it was downgraded under President George W. Bush.

Rice earned a doctorate in international relations at Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes scholar. After working as a management consultant at McKinsey and Co., she joined President Bill Clinton's National Security Council staff in 1993 and was involved with issues related to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, including Clinton's widely criticized decision not to intervene. Rice has said she regretted not doing more to stop the killing in Rwanda.

A protege of former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, Rice was promoted in 1997 to assistant secretary of State for African affairs at age 32, leapfrogging more veteran officials. In that position, which she held until 2001, she was the top African diplomat during the 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania by the Islamist militant group al Qaeda.