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That's advice the former first lady and secretary of State offered this week to women aspiring to high-profile positions, borrowing from Eleanor Roosevelt. It's a hide that didn't come naturally to Hillary Clinton.

Hillary Clinton said Thursday that women who want to get ahead in politics or other high-profile jobs should grow skin like a rhinoceros.

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This is a bit of wisdom the former secretary of State may have learned the hard way. Well get to that in a moment.

But first, the background: Mrs. Clinton was speaking at an event for the No Ceilings project, a joint initiative of the Clinton Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that aims to empower women in the 21stcentury.

No Ceilings is launching a review of global data to see how far women have progressed in education, income, political participation, and other measures since the mid-1990s, Clinton said. It picked that parameter because Clinton had addressed a big UN World Conference on Women in 1995, when she was first lady.

Flanked by her daughter, Chelsea, and Melinda Gates onstage at New York University, Clinton gave no hint of her future political plans. But she did give interesting counsel to other women who might want to follow in her footsteps.

One of the best pieces of advice that I have ever heard from anyone is from Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1920s, who said that women in politics or in public roles should grow skin like a rhinoceros, Clinton said. I think there is some truth to that.

Thats true, of course. But its not just true for women. Men in politics have to be able to withstand the slings and arrows of rhetorical abuse, as well. Remember how Texas Gov. Ann Richards mocked George H.W. Bush in 1988? He was born with a silver foot in his mouth, she told the Democratic National Convention that year, to riotous applause.

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Hillary Clinton tells women to 'grow skin like a rhinoceros.' Good advice? (+video)

Feb 13, 2014 1:36pm

(Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The former Secretary of State and once and possibly future presidential candidate steered clear of politics, making no mention of any 2016 plans, when she delivered that advice to an enthusiastic and largely female audience at New York University.

Flanked by her daughter, Chelsea, and philanthropist Melinda Gates, Clinton focused on womens economic empowerment as she spoke in support of the No Ceilings project a joint venture of the Clinton Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that seeks to empower women and girls by aggregating the best data on their contributions to society and security.

One of the best pieces of advice that I have ever heard from anyone is from Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1920s who said that women in politics or in public roles should grow skin like a rhinoceros, Clinton said. I think there is some truth to that.

The trio took questions on issues ranging from the decline in the number of women and girls in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) to women in leadership positions, to what men can do to help women gain fuller anticipation in the workforce.

Clinton said women and girls need more encouragement than their male peers.

I have employed by this time a lot of very talented young men and young women and offering a promotion or expanded responsibilities almost always provokes a response something like, I dont know if I could do that or Are you sure I could do that? Clinton said.

She added, Ive never heard that from a young man ever.

The rest is here:

Hillary Clinton Wants Young Women To 'Grow Skin Like A Rhinoceros'

Yes, she behaved badly. But under the circumstances, how many people would've managed better? And how is it relevant to the job she may seek?

Reuters

When I wrote about attacks on Bill Clinton earlier this week, I focused on how they might help Republicans confronting the charge that they're waging a "war on women." A retrospective on Monica Lewinsky, Paula Jones, and Gennifer Flowers won't help the GOP when it comes to the politics of abortion or contraception. It will remind voters that Rush Limbaugh's party isn't the only one that is happy to strategically embrace men who've behaved badly toward women.

In passing, I added that the GOP would nevertheless be foolish to attack Hillary Clinton over her husband's sexual indiscretions, though doing so will be a temptation. Subsequent coverage has persuaded me that the temptation will prove even greater than I thought, and that what seems to me the strongest case against attacking Hillary Clinton on these grounds isn't as widely held as I'd imagined.

Any attack on Hillary Clinton would have to clear a high hurdle: The public wisely presumes that it's unfair to attack a woman for her husband's misbehavior. Clinton's most persuasive critics argue that they're not attacking her for her husband's transgressions, but for compounding them by attacking his victims. These critiques have come from the feminist left as often as the Clinton-hating right. For example, Dave Weigelnotesthat MSNBC host and academic Melissa Harris-Perry is among the feminists who have expressed biting criticism of Hillary Clinton's behavior. The years-old analysis says Clinton "made an appalling choice as a feministnot that she stayed with her husband, but that she did not speak out in defense of a barely-older-than-teenage girl who was harassed by her husband ... And then she used that experience to create sympathy for herself."

The New Republic's Isaac Chotiner points to evidence that Hillary Clinton expressed contempt for "whiney women" who accused GOP Senator Bob Packwood of sexual harassment, and concludes that she benefits from a double-standard:

Try the following thought experiment: Chris Christie, or Sarah Palin, or Andrew Cuomo is asked by a friend about sexual harassment allegations against a powerful Senator. Christie, or Palin, or Cuomo responds that he or she is tired of all these whiny women. Now imagine the friend's records are released. What would be the reaction in the media and among feminist organizations? It is inconceivable that there would not be an uproar, a forced apology, and some articles about how this will hurt the prospective candidate ...

As he notes, other mainstream-media journalists have highlighted this side of Clinton in the past.Melinda Hennebergerput it this wayin a 2008 Slate article:

After the GenniferFlowers story came out during her husband's '92 presidential run, herresponse, according to Carl Bernstein, was to throw herself intoefforts to discredit Flowers and to try to persuade horrified campaignaides to bring out rumors that Poppy Bush had not always been faithfulto Barbara.

Henneberger also co-wrote a piece with Dahlia Lithwick that is even harder on Clinton:

Continued here:

Why Hillary Clinton Won't Pay for Disparaging Her Husband's Accusers

Exclusive: As a U.S. senatorandSecretary of State, Hillary Clinton often followed a neocon-style foreign policy, backing the Iraq War, teaming up withDefense Secretary Robert Gates on an Afghan War surge,and staking out an even more hawkish stance than Gates on Libya, Robert Parry reports.

By Robert Parry

Most Democratic power-brokers appearsettled on Hillary Clinton as their choice for President in 2016 and she holds lopsided leads over potential party rivals in early opinion polls but there are some warning flags flying, paradoxically, hoisted by former Defense Secretary Robert Gates in his praise for the former First Lady, U.S. senator and Secretary of State.

On the surface, one might think that Gatess glowing commendations of Clinton would further burnish her standing as the odds-on next President of the United States, but strip away the fawning endorsements and Gatessportrait of Clinton in his new memoir, Duty, is of a pedestrian foreign policy thinker who is easily duped and leans toward military solutions.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on May 1, 2011, watching developments in the Special Forces raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Neither played a particularly prominent role in the operation. (White House photo by Pete Souza)

Indeed, for thoughtful and/or progressive Democrats, the prospect of a President Hillary Clinton could represent astep back from some of President Barack Obamas more innovative foreign policy strategies, particularly his readiness to cooperate with the Russians and Iranians to defuse Middle East crises and his willingness to face down the Israel Lobby when it is pushing for heightened confrontations and war.

Based on her public record and Gatess insider account, Clinton could be expected to favor a more neoconservative approach to the Mideast, one more in line with the traditional thinking of Official Washington and the belligerent dictates of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

As a U.S. senator and as Secretary of State, Clinton rarely challenged the conventional wisdom or resisted the use of military force to solve problems. She famously voted for the Iraq War in 2002 falling for President George W. Bushs bogus WMD case and remained a war supporter until her position became politically untenable during Campaign 2008.

Representing New York, Clinton rarely if ever criticized Israeli actions. In summer 2006, as Israeli warplanes pounded southern Lebanon, killing more than 1,000 Lebanese, Sen. Clinton shared a stage with Israels Ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman who had said, While it may be true and probably is that not all Muslims are terrorists, it also happens to be true that nearly all terrorists are Muslim.

At a pro-Israel rally with Clinton in New York on July 17, 2006, Gillerman proudly defended Israels massiveviolence against targets in Lebanon. Let us finish the job, Gillerman told the crowd. We will excise the cancer in Lebanon and cut off the fingers of Hezbollah. Responding to international concerns that Israel was using disproportionate force in bombing Lebanon and killing hundreds of civilians, Gillerman said, Youre damn right we are. [NYT, July 18, 2006]

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Is Hillary Clinton a Neocon-Lite?

'HRC,' by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes, tells the story of Clinton's defeat in 2008 to her place in Washington today.

In the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, a junior senator from Illinois, a young nobody with minimal experience and a name no one had heard of, crushed Hillary Clinton, the known quantity, the experienced candidate, the better half of the nations most famous political power couple.

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That resounding defeat was supposed to have finished her career.

But it didnt. Clinton became one of the presidents most high-ranking cabinet officials; a steel-willed stateswoman; an admired, influential, and authoritative figure. And she just might be our president in 2016.

It is, arguably, one of the greatest political comebacks in recent history and its recounted in HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton, the hot new political book by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes.

HRC, which Crown Press released Tuesday, draws on more than two hundred interviews Allen, formerly of Politico, and Parnes, of The Hill, conduct with Clintons colleagues, backers, and enemies. The result, according to reviews, is a thoroughly reported and well-written chronicle of Clintons comeback and her tenure at the State Department, albeit one that discloses few real revelations or raw personality.

The book opens with a classic scene of Washington vengeance, in Clintons empty campaign headquarters after her demoralizing primary loss to Obama in 2008. A pair of campaign staffers compile an Excel spreadsheet of Clintons supporters and betrayers, assigning them gradations of loyalty and disloyalty on a scale of one for ultimate loyalty to seven for unforgivable treachery.

Then-Senator John Kerry and late Senator Ted Kennedy earn sevens. Claire McCaskill well, lets just say that there is a special seat by hells fire reserved for the Missouri senator, who broke down in penitential weeping after she commented, on national television, that she would not want her daughter near Bill Clinton, the Washington Post writes in its review of HRC. But her greater sin was being the first female senator to endorse Obama.

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'HRC': What does the new Hillary Clinton bio reveal? (+video)