Hillary Clinton's Quito Address: Now Comes the Hard Part

Hillary Clinton responded to the drumbeat of demands for a major administration policy speech on Latin America this week during her stopover in Quito, Ecuador. The U.S. secretary of state was working her way back home—due to also visit Colombia and Barbados—after attending the annual Organization of American States (OAS) General Assembly in Lima, Peru. Her speech—strategic, specific and at times personal and emotional—did not disappoint.

Clinton mapped out a vision of inter-American relations well grounded in the conceptual convergence between the social democrats that occupy the broad center of Latin American opinion and the worldview of mainstream U.S. Democrats like Clinton herself. The secretary is most effective and genuine when she projects her personal policy preferences—acted upon over a lifetime—toward a hemisphere that is well poised to warmly receive them.

Clinton made triple use of the “opportunity” concept: opportunity for Latin America to build on its progress toward democratic governance and macroeconomic stability and address its deep social deficits; opportunity for the region to knock down barriers blocking social mobility, especially for women; and opportunity for the United States and Latin America to cooperate in tackling common problems.

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Richard Feinberg is professor of political economy at the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies of the University of California, San Diego and is a prominent writer, consultant, and lecturer on corporate responsibility and trade. He served as a senior White House advisor on Inter-American Affairs during the Clinton administration.