800 pounds of love for Hillary, in search of a home

Loop Fans may remember back to March 18, 1999, when the U.S. Agency for International Development turned its lobby in the Ronald Reagan Building into a shrine to then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, putting up 12 large photos of her world travels and an 800-pound bronze plaque, 6 feet wide by about 9 feet high, bolted to a marble wall.

The plaque, which cost $27,388 plus tens of thousands more for shipping and installation, had an excerpt from a speech she gave about "expanding the circle of human dignity to encompass all human beings -- men and women, boys and girls . . ."

Then there was this over-the-top bit from then-USAID Administrator J. Brian Atwood: "May all who pass through these portals recognize the invaluable contribution to worldwide development made by the First Lady of the United States, Hillary Rodham Clinton."

When the Bush administration came in, they naturally covered up the plaque, choosing to display a 7-by-15-foot collage of 36 photos of random people from developing countries. The makeover cost about $100,000. A couple of years later they ripped down the plaque and replaced it with one dedicated to USAID employees who died while on duty. The names of about 60 of them, along with the dates and places where they died, are on ceramic tiles set on a new 9-by-10-foot plaque.

The plaque was sent to a government warehouse in Maryland, where, we wrote at the time, it lay "peacefully . . . waiting, waiting . . ."

Sure enough, after the November election, the plaque stirred. It began positively quivering on Jan. 23, when Secretary of State Clinton went to USAID to energize the troops and to talk about the importance of their mission.

"So I take this work very personally," she said, according to a transcript and video of her remarks. " I was quite honored upon leaving the White House to have a plaque put up in the lobby recognizing my work," she said. "And if anybody knows where that plaque is -- [laughter and applause] -- you know," Clinton playfully smiled, looking at someone just off the stage to her right, and shrugged, "I'd just love to see it again." [Laughter.]

Yes, ma'am! We'll get right on it.

But wait.

It can't go back to the same spot. No one is about to displace a memorial to fallen employees.

So, for an estimated $40,000, the agency was preparing to schlep the holy plaque back and put it up next week on another wall in the lobby. The photos of her travels won't be returning, but who needs them? After all, a large photo of the secretary sits at the agency entrance, alongside President Obama's and Vice President Biden's.

Then Thursday afternoon, hours after we made inquiries, we got word from a State Department official traveling with Clinton in Pakistan that, no, the plaque's not going up. "The secretary prefers that public funds not be used for this purpose," we were told, "and if USAID wants to restore the wall, it should pursue private funding."