Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reflected yesterday that she used to be an "icon," but surrendered that status when she took an active role in politics.

"I did tell her in one of our recent telephone conversations she was moving from an icon to a politician," Clinton said yesterday, recounting her conversation with a female Burmese politician, Aung Suu Kyi.  "Having made sort of the same journey to some extent, I know that that’s not easy because now you go to a parliament and you start compromising, which is what democracy is all about."

Clinton made her comments at a film screening of The Lady, a movie about Suu Kyi's opposition to the military dictatorship in Burma.

The former First Lady and senator gave Suu Kyi some political advice. "You cannot expect to have one person or one party – one leader – be the repository of everything that is true," she said. "And so you have to work with other people, some of whom you disagree with deeply."