Whether you admire Hillary Clinton or detest her, one thing you have to admit: she's brilliant and cleverly provocative, and she attracts media attention like moths drawn to a scorching flame.

Hillary commands authority in a way unrivaled in Democratic Party annals for years. As part of Larry King's CNN panel last night of the women Democratic members of the US Senate, Hillary labored at fading likeably into the crowd of nine. Her make-up and hair were notably subdued, her dress was dark and unadorned, and she listened respectfully while others did most of the talking.

But Hillary and Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) were the clear leaders of the group, and only Hillary shone with confident star-power. It was hard to take our eyes off her.

I'm irritated as hell with Senator Clinton over her non-stance on the Iraq War. And I'm not alone: at the recent progressive Take Back America Conference , she was booed by much of the crowd on June 13 when she stuck to her no-discernible-stance waffle on the Iraq War.

Probably sensing the political need to immediately change the subject away from the Iraq War, Hillary delivered a major speech just three days later on privacy rights.

I have to admit: she put forth some excellent, concrete proposals on a new issue that promises to be "hot" in the 2008 presidential campaign. She wants a Privacy Bill of Rights, and she supports the reinstatement of a federal Chief Privacy Officer, which was first established under Bill Clinton's administration. (The position was predictably not funded under the Bush Administration.)

"At all levels, the privacy protections for ordinary citizens are broken, inadequate and out of date..." Senator Clinton orated. "And the personal stories can be heartbreaking. My office has heard from a minister harassed, wrongly, by credit agencies; a woman whose trusted tax adviser opened bank accounts and stole money in her name; a breast cancer patient whose mammography records were lost. "

Said Senator Clinton, "I believe that it is not just a possibility, but a necessity, that we preserve our right to privacy, while we also participate freely in the modern world and defend our national security.

The June 16, 2006 speech was lengthy and nuanced, but I've excerpted significant passages from it for your easy reading, at Senator Clinton Proposes A Privacy Bill of Rights and a Privacy Czar. Read it and give it a chance.

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