It may have been her disarming charm and pop culture sensibility that kept more than 1,000 people in their seats at the Shannon Center at Saint Xavier University Tuesday night to hear former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright speak about her views on current world affairs, but what they really arrived for were the blunt opinions of the sharp Wellesley grad who would become a feisty adviser to lifelong Democrats, including presidential hopefuls Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis.

After an inspiring welcome home (she married Chicago newspaper heir Joseph Medill Patterson Albright in 1959) from former U.S. Secretary of Commerce and fellow cabinet member William M. Daley (brother of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley), Albright, 69, spared little time illustrating her admission that she