Madeleine Albright's tenure as the first female U.S. secretary of state is a rich one, filled with moments of inspiration as well as regret, courtesy of hindsight's unflattering gaze. But I would like to start this column with something that she started saying even before she became the nation's top diplomat: "There's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other."
Over time that sentence and sentiment became part of her signature. That is, until she said it in 2016 at a Hillary Clinton campaign stop in New Hampshire. I was nearby when she said it. The partisan crowd loved it, of course. But the blowback from a wider public came quickly. A lot had changed in that catchphrase's lifetime. The 1990s were a long time ago.
Albright penned a pseudo-mea culpa in the New York Times, writing in part: "I absolutely believe what I said, that women should help one another, but this was the wrong context and the wrong time to use that line. I did not mean to argue that women should support a particular candidate based solely on gender. But I understand that I came across as condemning those who disagree with my political preferences. If heaven were open only to those who agreed on politics, I imagine it would be largely unoccupied."
