BOSTON, Apr 24: Hillary Rodham Clinton is daring women to compete, but not saying whether she will herself in 2016.
The former first lady, US senator and secretary of state addressed a women’s leadership conference in Boston on Wednesday, an event set just 30 miles from the New Hampshire state line as she weighs another presidential campaign.
Clinton had little to say about her political future, but offered a strong message to the largely female audience estimated at 3,500.
“There are times in all of our lives when we’re either given an opportunity or we see one that we could seize. And we get nervous. We worry. We’re not ready to dare anything. But I hope you will,” she said at the Simmons Leadership Conference set along the Boston waterfront. “Women have to dare to compete.”
It’s a familiar refrain from Clinton, who has focused on gender equality, among other issues, in a series of public appearances since leaving the Obama administration last year.
In a speech and subsequent question-and-answer session that spanned more than an hour, Clinton thanked the thousands of runners who competed in the Boston Marathon earlier in the week for sending “a message of hope, resilience and determination one year after the vicious attack.”
Three people died and hundreds were injured in twin bombings near the finish line of last year’s marathon.
Clinton also drew on her experience as secretary of state, listing her biggest regret as the deadly 2012 attack on a US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans. She called it “a terrible, senseless, terrorist action.”
Clinton’s proximity to New Hampshire, which traditionally hosts the country’s first presidential primaries, was as noteworthy as her remarks. (AGENCIES)
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