The day I became press secretary to the President of the United States, I was in an entirely different world from the one I'd been in the day before.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Someone had to change the world. And obviously I was the one for the job.
I was an office secretary for a long time. A good secretary.
That day, my first day on the job, was September 11, 2001! I was actually being recognized by Switzerland the very day that the World Trade Center was hit.
I'd spent 25 years in government when I left the Defense Department back in '93, decided I'd go spend the rest of my career in the private sector, and then the president tapped me to come be his running mate. And it's been a remarkable experience. I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
I was in the trade field as White House fellow in the first Bush administration.
When I became secretary of state, I felt one of my primary jobs was building relationships around the world.
I lost my job in the most public way possible, and the press had a field day with it all over the world. And guess what? I'm still here.
I think my father thought I might be president of the United States. I think he would've been satisfied with secretary of state. I'm a foreign policy person, and to have a chance to serve my country as the nation's chief diplomat at a time of peril and consequence, that was enough.
I began my journalistic career on the day Ronald Reagan was sworn in. That's the day I showed up for work at 'The New Republic' magazine.
I became a journalist partly so that I wouldn't ever have to rely on the press for my information.