Those are the kinds of conclusions that put people's backs up, particularly if those people happen to be male. Isn't it just another form of sexism, they argue, to suggest that women are better, or different? Hasn't Secretary Clinton shown herself to possess a killer instinct as finally honed as that of any male counterpart? Yes, she has, and perhaps now that everyone knows she can be the toughest person in the room, she is uniquely positioned to go the other way. "Soft diplomacy could be her greatest strength," says Kavita Ramdas, president of the Global Fund for Women. "This is the time to get rid of militarism as a dominant theme, not only because it's wrong, but because it doesn't work."

That was another theme in the president's inaugural speech, that effectiveness, not ideology, is key. That should be the ethos that guides foreign policy as well. The notion of winning, illusory in our age, should be replaced with what works to cement alliances and raise the standard of living worldwide. The best rear-guard action in the war on terror, for example, is a war on poverty and ignorance. You could argue that the clearest suggestion that our values will prevail in Afghanistan are the girls who returned to school even after acid was thrown in their faces to keep them in the old condition of subjugation. Their scars are a flag of freedom.

To reread the Clinton speech in Beijing is to see a woman preparing to cast aside the schisms created by overweening American exceptionalism. She spoke from her heart when she told women from around the world that the universal experience of being female overrides the bright lines of division created by religion, class, place. "When families flourish, communities and nations do as well," she said.

It's worth noting that there were some in her husband's administration who didn't want her to make that speech. If she led a department that saw engaging and enriching women as a linchpin of its work, she might well be accused of feminizing foreign policy. Both she and the president could respond: so what? An American foreign policy informed by swagger and arrogance has been a conspicuous failure, making the United States not respected but reviled. It is no wonder that President Obama ended his inaugural remarks about international friendship with the promise "We are ready to lead once more." The world's women are ready for that, too.

© 2009