Hillary Clinton, Waxing Nostalgic, Accepts Award at Yale

NEW HAVEN, Conn. â€" Hillary Rodham Clinton accepted an award at her alma mater, Yale Law School, on Saturday. At her 40th reunion, Mrs. Clinton, the former secretary of state, delivered a speech that took the audience down memory lane, highlighted her passion for children’s welfare and largely avoided politics.

Meanwhile, just outside Woolsey Hall, college Democrats handed out Ready for Hillary stickers and signed up students and alumni to support an independent political action committee that would help finance the former first lady’s 2016 presidential ambitions, should she decide to run.

Would Mrs. Clinton, one of the school’s most distinguished alumnae, want to “add one more elusive line to her resume?” asked Robert C. Post, the dean of the Yale Law School.

Both Mrs. Clinton and Bill Clinton graduated from Yale Law 40 years ago. Mr. Clinton (who Mrs. Clinton said looked “like a Viking from Arkansas” when she first met him at Yale) surprised the crowd as he walked into the hall and sat in the front row to watch as his wife accepted the Award of Merit.

“It’s really hard to believe it’s been 40 years,” Mrs. Clinton said. “I was driving a beat-up old car. I had a mattress tied to the roof. I was wearing my bell bottoms,” she said of pulling up at Yale in the summer of 1969, a turbulent political time that she said informed her lifelong worldview.

But mostly, Mrs. Clinton focused on how her time at Yale opened her eyes to child abuse and poverty and the importance of early childhood development. “Because of the government shutdown, nearly nine million women and children will soon be unable to buy healthy food and baby formula,” Mrs. Clinton said.

The speech fit into one of Mrs. Clinton’s main initiatives since leaving the State Department. As part of her family’s Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, she has devoted much of her time to a joint effort called Too Small to Fail that helps parents get access to resources for early childhood development.

The speech, like many others Mrs. Clinton has delivered as she has racked up awards from professional and academic organizations, gives her the chance to speak substantively about issues she feels are important, on her own terms, largely free from media scrutiny or political rivals.

The United States must “reverse this tide of inequality that is eating away at the social fabric of our country,” Mrs. Clinton said, without wading into specific economic issues.

On Friday, Mrs. Clinton said in a paid address to business leaders at a country club on Long Island, N.Y., that she would seriously consider a run for president “sometime next year.”

Sunday Breakfast Menu, Oct. 6

Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

As the government shutdown approaches the one-week mark, conversations about whether Congress can come to an agreement on raising the debt ceiling are cropping up on the Sunday talk shows.

Speaker John A. Boehner will be on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday for an exclusive, live interview. The Republican House leader will share his thoughts on the government shutdown and the coming debt ceiling fight.

Also on the program will be Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, and Representative Mick Mulvaney, Republican of South Carolina.

Jacob J. Lew, the Treasury secretary, will appear on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” CNN’s “State of the Union,” “Fox News Sunday” and NBC’s “Meet the Press.” The Treasury Department warned last week that an impasse over raising the debt ceiling could prove catastrophic for the economy.

Senator Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican who has angered some within his party over his recent efforts to defund President Obama’s health care law, will also appear on “State of the Union,” as will Representatives Donna Edwards, Democrat of Maryland, and Steve King, Republican of Iowa.

In addition to Mr. Lew, “Meet the Press” will have Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, who will discuss possible resolutions to the shutdown. Representative Marcia L. Fudge, Democrat of Ohio and chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, will also appear.

Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, will talk about the shutdown on “Face the Nation.” Also on the program, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, who cautioned world leaders not to trust Iran in his speech at the United Nations last week.

Representatives Peter T. King, Republican of New York, and Tom Graves, Republican of Georgia, will appear on “Fox News Sunday,” to discuss their party’s perspectives on the shutdown, including the struggle between those who want to defund the health care law and those who do not.

Representative Jeb Hensarling, Republican of Texas and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, will talk about the looming deadline to raise the debt ceiling on C-Span’s “Newsmakers.”

Representative Darrell Issa, Republican of California, and Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, will be on Bloomberg’s “Capitol Gains.”

Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, was on Bloomberg’s “Political Capital,” which was broadcast Friday with repeats throughout the weekend.

Cecilia Muñoz, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, will appear on Univision’s “Al Punto” to talk about the administration’s place in the current gridlock. Representatives Xavier Becerra of California, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, and Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, will also be on the program.

Representatives Henry Cuellar, Democrat of Texas, and Jeff Denham, Republican of California, will be on Telemundo’s “Enfoque.”