GO BLUE: Hillary Was There But Was Vivek Sankaran?

I really do not care.

Just documenting.

I wonder if she was mesmerizing Vivek Sankaran about being a superstar in her new and improved Children's Crusade Campaign 2020.

Hillary Clinton: America is losing credibility on world stage

As she gave an oral tour of the world's hot spots for a capacity crowd at the University of Michigan, Hillary Clinton had a suggestion for what needs to be done.

"There are ways of working on thorny problems, but they take thought and planning and diplomacy," said the former Democratic presidential nominee, secretary of state, U.S. senator and first lady. And not just normal diplomacy — "intelligent diplomacy."

Then she paused for a long second for the crowd to read between the lines — that's not what the Trump administration is doing.

Later, she was more direct. Asked how America can better engage on the world stage, she said, "Our current president can have an epiphany," she said.

"We are losing our credibility. If you fight for America and then you are betrayed, what does that mean? We've got a lot of repair work to do.

"A lot of the voices who constrained the president are gone. I was lucky to work for a president who encouraged dissent."

During the 90-minute session, which started with U-M's Ford School Dean Michael Barr asking questions in a conversation and concluded with Clinton answering questions submitted by the audience, she touched on the hot topics of the day, including:

Ukraine: "The Ukrainian scandal should have triggered impeachment, but let's not forget the broader picture. The Ukrainian president is under pressure from Putin. He's under pressure from the American president. Ukraine (in Putin's view) belongs to Russia. Not to the Ukrainian people." She also pointed out that Trump recently withdrew the United States from the Open Skies treaty, which allowed satellites to take pictures of what was happening on the ground. She wondered aloud if that was done to let Putin move troops into the Ukraine without anyone noticing.

On pro-democracy rallies in Hong Kong: "When it comes to Hong Kong, I don't think Chinese would have a problem if we said we support democracy. I think it's a shame we've retreated so far. When America is silent about these fundamental human rights, no one else is going to speak."
On Turkey's invasion into Syria, and President Donald Trump's withdrawal of American troops: "I can't give you hopeful answer (to path forward in Syria). I fear it will give ISIS a revival. (Syrian President Bashar al-) Assad has become a tool of the Iranian and Russian interests." She said Trump gave Turkey "a green light" to invade Syria, adding everyone knew that's what was going to happen as soon as Trump announced the troop withdrawal.

On foreign influence in her election run against Trump and future elections: "First, acknowledge it happened. There seems to be very little appetite in our federal government to do anything about (foreign interference in elections). Here's what I tell Democrat candidates currently running for president who talk to me. You could lose for four reasons not under your control: Voter suppression; having information stolen from your campaign and weaponized against you; having a stream of outrageous stories fed to people's Facebook feeds;  and the actual foreign interference with the election."

The event was part of the launch of the Weiser Diplomacy Center at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, which is funded Ron Weiser, the current U-M board chairman and prominent Michigan Republican. Last week, former Republican Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke as part of the same series.

More than 1,000 tickets were distributed for the event. But how many showed up?

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