please disregard my girly pose.

   Over the weekend, the upper echelon of the United States government spent some time in Asia trying to strengthen its ties with countries in the region after the Bush Administration pretty much neglected the area during his presidential term.  On Thursday afternoon, United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in Manila for a brief two-day trip to visit and give support to areas devastated by the recent typhoons.  Mrs. Clinton also held an open forum for students at the University of Santo Tomas on Friday morning, and luckily, I was chosen by the U.S. Embassy to conduct (the only?) exclusive sit down interview with Hillary.

   The interview was scheduled for approximately 9am but I was told to arrive in UST no later than 6am.  Just like the movies, security was top notch. The U.S. embassy staff were highly organized and extremely efficient. Everyone respectively called me by my name, they shook my hand, established eye contact, and genuinely seem to care about me and everyone in the building.  I was expecting her staff to grab my questions, read through them, cross out the ones they didn’t like, dictate to you what are topics that are off-limits and expect you to comply…or else.  It couldn’t be further from the truth.  I was told that Hillary doesn’t want to know the questions in advance and she is willing to answer just about anything thrown at her.

[On a side note:  I also interview celebrities on a weekend gossip show and I tell you, if you bring a list of questions to ask the celeb, be ready! Their manager will grab it, read it over, tear open a hole in it and proceed to rape it, and then use it as toilet paper.  Celebrities (and their managers) are the absolute worst interviews you could ever be handed.  A trained monkey could interview a local celebrity. Its communism.]

  Back to Hillary.

  I was given a 2^nd row seat during the open forum which lasted about an hour.  The funny moment of the whole exchange was when Hillary Clinton referred to the M-I-L-F as the milfs (pronounced in the pop slang manner of “mother I’d like to f—“).  Before the one hour forum ended, I was escorted by U.S. Embassy staff to a holding room as I prepped for my one on one interview.  I was fully aware that these are interview opportunities that journalists salivate over.  I know that some of our biggest local journalists tried scoring an interview with her and they were declined.  I had strictly five minutes with her, not a minute more.

  From the holding room, I was told to walk into the designated interview area.  I was expecting her to be waiting for me, seated there going through some sort of paperwork briefing, but to my surprise she was being escorted in at the same pace I was.  I felt like a head of state because we walked in with that official stride and we were to meet at the table exactly at the same moment, exchange official handshakes as if I was about to sign some sort of new Philippine-American treaty.  She knew my name prior to entering, she smiled genuinely and we started a bit of small talk—she asked me how long have I been doing this job, etc.  U.S. Ambassador Kristie Kenney gave me a wonderful personal introduction, putting a great word in for the radio show and my tv program as well.  We started the interview shortly after and it went swimmingly.  The strict 5 minute time limit was followed loosely as we chatted for a good 8 minutes, she gladly did a few plugs, and even complimented me about how much she enjoyed the interview.  We shared a few laughs with the U.S. Embassy staff and I went on my way.

  My biggest fault of the interview was that I zoned out the “personal experience” part of the whole thing.  I was so concentrated on making sure I ask the right questions, and that the voice recorder was working properly, and I was extremely conscious of the time because I didn’t want staff members to be upset at me—it distracted me from the reality of it all—that I am sharing a great conversation, on a topic I’m passionate about, with a figure that changes the landscape of the world.  I wanted to tell her that I worked as a 9-1-1 operator and police dispatcher while I was in college in the few years I spent studying in the U.S. Well, perhaps she can throw in a good word for me in case U.S. President Obama pays a visit and I can be again chosen to be in their fine company. 

...Oh, thank you, Mo. And I really wish you well. I mean, you’re a very impressive young man with an excellent interview technique. --Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on DJ Mo Twister

Click here to listen to the full interview

Click here to listen to the Hillary Clinton radio plug.

Click here to view U.S. State Department transcript of the interview.

  There were a few questions that I wish I could have had the time to ask her.  One of them being the difference in warmth and hospitality in travel between a country like the Philippines and then to a “hostile” country.  I can’t even begin to comprehend what the environment, mood, hostility, the security logistics, are like when you go to a known hostile country.  I can’t assume that the motorcade enroute to where she stays is surrounded by orchids, banners, students playing band music, waving of small American flags, and warm receptions…or I could be wrong.