Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden Are a Popular Double Bill at a Kennedy Center Awards Event

If the look and the sound of a presidential campaign—large crowded auditorium, screaming
fans—can have a soft rollout, it would possibly look something like the scene at the
Kennedy Center Tuesday evening for the Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards, where the headliners were the two most talked-about contenders for the 2016 Democratic
presidential ticket. The double bill was Vice President
Joe Biden and former Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton, who gave her first speech since leaving President Obama’s cabinet. In their remarks
the two veteran politicians did not veer away from the message of the evening: women—their
rights, protections, and potential worldwide. On this subject they sounded less like
future opponents and more like running mates.

Clinton, just back from a vacation in the Dominican Republic, looked happy and rested.
She no longer wore the thick eyeglasses ordered by a doctor due to medication prescribed
after she fainted, fell, got a concussion, and was hospitalized. A close friend said
that the episode is behind her and she’s off the meds and “all better.” Clinton also
seemed to be delightedly in her natural habitat, among hundreds of like-minded individuals,
mostly women, who support Vital Voices, an organization she formed as an initiative
15 years ago as First Lady. She also presented an award to her longtime friend
and lieutenant,
Melanne Verveer, who is currently perched at Georgetown University while Clinton figures out what’s
next.

“When women participate in peace-keeping and peace-making, we are all safer and more
secure,” Clinton said. She added that when women participate in the economy, “everyone
benefits.”

Clinton was introduced by designer
Diane von Furstenberg, who had her arm in a sling, which she referred to as a “skiing misadventure.” Clinton
walked out from the wings in a white jacket and dark pants to a standing ovation.
She seemed to take special satisfaction in recalling her long association with Verveer,
remembering in particular when Verveer was her White House chief of staff; their focus
then, too, was global women’s issues. “We often had meetings in a place called the
Map Room, where FDR used to track the progress of our armies in World War II,” Clinton
said. “We thought it was an appropriate place for women of the White House to meet.”

Continuing with the map theme, she said, “Maps can tell us as much about ourselves
as [about] the world around us. You can look at a map of the world and see nothing
but problems as far as the eye can perceive. That is especially true for those of
us committed to the struggle for women and girls. We see too many countries where
women still face violence and abuse, too many political systems that treat women as
second-class or even worse. Too many economies that deny women the chance to participate
and prosper.”

Clinton said she sees progress, however, “because we know people who are making that
progress against the most extraordinary odds.” She said for the women struggling for
an opportunity, a piece of land, an education, or to start a business or run for office,
“all it takes is for them to have a fighting chance.” She said that as Secretary of
State she was determined to “weave this perspective into the fabric of American foreign
policy.”

Once introduced, and after a warm embrace, Verveer went to the podium to say her thanks
while Clinton stood behind her, displaying an expression that was nothing less than
pride.

Vice President Biden spoke after Clinton and, as he tends to do, bounded across the stage. When he
got to the podium he played to the audience, praising women in general and one in
particular. He started to say “and women like” Hillary Clinton, but caught himself.
“Actually, that’s not an appropriate phrase. There’s no woman like Hillary Clinton.
That’s a fact.” A certified applause line, of course. Biden said her “declaration
in China some decades ago that women’s rights are human rights still echoes so forcefully
around the world nearly two decades later.” More applause.

Biden led the Senate in passing the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, which was
recently reauthorized. “I want to thank you all, not only in the writing of the Violence
Against Women Act, but in its passage the first time and its continued reauthorization,”
he said, looking out into the dark, packed opera house. “If I could see out into the
audience I’m confident there are scores of you who are the reason it was able to pass
in the first place and be reauthorized.”

Biden noted that his sister,
Valerie Biden Owens, whom he called his “best friend,” was in the audience. She had run all his campaigns,
but on this night he wanted to steal from a speech she had written for herself. “You’ve
got to answer your cell phone,” he declared, breaking from his script. “I wanted to
get your permission to quote the speech.” He looked into the audience for her. “Is
it okay?” Then he looked up. “Y’all think I’m kidding. I’m not kidding,” he said,
prompting loud laughter. Presumably he got the okay from Owens, because he quoted parts of her speech that had to do with abuses against women and how they affect all women. “I
want to make it clear, I am attributing this to her, although she’s written many of
my speeches,” he said.

Warming to the audience’s response to his words about his sister, Biden added, “You
can always tell a man who is comfortable dealing with a powerful woman in his work,
because you’ll know then he was raised by a strong woman, and has a sister, a wife,
and daughters who are equally strong. My sister, who is much younger than me, raised
me.”

Biden presented the Solidarity Award to
Ravi, Nishi, and
Rishi Kant, three brothers from India who formed an organization, Shakti Vahini, that works
against human trafficking and sexual violence. Other honorees included Dr.
Hawa Abdi, a physician and human rights activist in Somalia;
Sandra Gomes Melo, the director of the Civil Police Academy in the federal district of Brasilia, Brazil;

Tep Vanny, who fights for human and land rights in her native Cambodia;
Manal Yaish Zraiq, a Palestinian businesswoman and property developer; and
Malala Yousafzai, a 15-year-old Pakistani blogger, who could not be at the Kennedy Center to receive
her Global Trailblazer Award because she is recovering from an October assassination
attempt. She has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, the youngest nominee ever,
for her work on behalf of girls’ education.

After speeches and films, the guests moved from the opera house up to the roof terrace
for a buffet supper. At the start of the evening, a cluster of Clinton supporters
gathered outside the Kennedy Center, holding up makeshift campaign posters. By the
evening’s end, they had gone.