Samantha Power

Lawyer, journalist, author, professor, human rights advocate and self-proclaimed "genocide chick" Samantha Power has worked extensively with Harvard's Carr Center for Human Rights Policy.

Fast Facts

1. Born in Ireland in 1970
2. Undergraduate degree: Yale
3. Law degree: Harvard
4. Worked as a consultant to Barack Obama
5. Scheduled to speak at the TED 2008 conference
6. Won the Pulitzer Prize for her book A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide

"Monster" Controversy

Powers joined the Barack Obama 2008 presidential nomination campaign as Obama's foreign policy adviser. She made headlines on March 6, 2008, after she called Hillary Clinton a "monster" during an interview with the Scotsman newspaper. She apologized for the remark and resigned from her advisory position on March 7, 2008.

Quotes

1. "I never thought of going into politics until Obama. He is a singular person who comes along once in a lifetime and moves your life into a different place. I was bowled over by his intellectual range. He combines policy wonkery with an ability to inspire. I had never seen anything like it before."
2. "I made inexcusable remarks that are at marked variance from my oft-stated admiration for Senator Clinton and from the spirit, tenor, and purpose of the Obama campaign. And I extend my deepest apologies to Senator Clinton, Senator Obama, and the remarkable team I have worked with over these long 14 months."

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