Madeleine Albright: the SOTU and becoming a U.S. citizen

During her visit, Madeleine Albright talked to us Political Science majors the day after President Obama’s State of the Union address (did you know that Sec. Albright was a Political Science major at Wellesley?). Though she mainly discussed the United States’ role internationally, she also spoke about issues that went along with President Obama’s speech and even gave some thoughts on the SOTU directly.

It struck me how similar the topics were in both talks. One common area of discussion was China (which Secretary Albright gave her thoughts on after a question I asked her! — I asked where the most attention and assistance was needed for human rights, and she said that China should be a main country of focus).  Sec Albright talked about violations with labor practices — which President Obama also mentioned in the SOTU. The President made a pledge to look into unfair labor and trade practices in China.

A friend of mine, Khai Shaw (Wellesley ’12), asked Sec. Albright, “how do you balance representing U.S. interests with issues of international importance” the topic switched to more domestic issues (and then eventually to Albright’s time at Wellesley and advice on jobs, but I want to save that for another post!). Sec. Albright complimented President Obama, saying he had been doing a good job of balancing these interests.

Thinking about the SOTU address, I thought it was interesting how much Obama’s speech focused on domestic concerns like markets, energy, health, education, and the American Dream. I guess this makes sense with the election coming up…people want to know that the person they elect will focus on the issues closest to them… but back to Albright’s points! Election-talk can be a fun post later (yes, I consider talking about elections to be fun…).

The issue that I thought was most interesting was one where President Obama and Sec. Albright didn’t quite see eye-to-eye — illegal immigration.  Although she didn’t say it directly, I got the impression (now, remember, this is my own impression!) that she felt the President was a little too strict in his ideas about how to tackle illegal immigration. Secretary Albright discussed her journey as an U.S. immigrant and how difficult it was to become a citizen. Did you know that she was not a legal citizen until after her graduation from Wellesley? She told a hilarious story of her being nervous for the exam…luckily, as a political science major, she knew all about U.S. government  (Side note: the woman had a degree in political science and was nervous about taking the exam! Makes me wonder how may U.S. citizens born here would pass!)

Though Sec Albright did acknowledge problems with illegal immigration, she said she felt that we should have more (and easier!) opportunities for people to become citizens of the United States, rather than all of these harsh security measures. She also thought that some of the new laws dealing with immigration in the Border States were terrible, racist, and even embarrassing for our country.

Albright giving a separate, more intimate talk to just us Political Science majors!

I loved hearing such a candid talk from the Former Secretary of State.  I can’t wait to post some more thoughts on my favorite moments soon.

P.S. What issues do you think are most important right now…domestically or internationally? And do you think you know enough about U.S. government to pass the immigration exam? I would like to think that I would easily pass being a PoliSci major, but some of these sample questions are not so easy…