Hillary Clinton hints at White House run
WASHINGTON: Hillary Rodham Clinton seemed to be dropping hints today about making another run for the White House. For the second time in as many days, Clinton talked of her interest in possibly running for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2016.
She lost a hard-fought primary battle in 2008 to Barack Obama, and later agreed to be his secretary of state. In an interview on the day her book “Hard Choices” was being released, Clinton told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that she wants “to use the talent and resources that I have to make sure” others have the same opportunities.
Earlier, Clinton said that Republican inquiries into her handling of the deadly 2012 attack on the US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, gave her more of an incentive to run. While she said she’s still undecided about her political future, Clinton cited the Benghazi probe as an example of a dysfunctional Congress.
“It’s more of a reason to run, because I do not believe our great country should be playing minor league ball. We ought to be in the majors,” Clinton said emphatically, leaning forward in her chair during an interview aired yesterday with ABC’s Diane Sawyer.
“I view this as really apart from, even a diversion from, the hard work that the Congress should be doing about the problems facing our country and the world.” On Benghazi, Clinton today said she believed “there were some systemic problems within the State Department. And if we had known that earlier, perhaps we could have done some changes.”
But she also said, “You can’t always sit in an office in Washington and say this and that will happen.” Clinton’s tour for “Hard Choices” began today morning in the friendliest possible setting: A sold out autographing event at a Barnes & Noble in New York City.
About 1,000 people, some of whom slept on the sidewalk the night before, lined up for an autograph and the chance to shake her hand and say hello. The crowd was a politician’s dream of young and old, male and female, white and nonwhite. Many wore “Ready for Hillary” buttons or stickers and counted down the hours, then the minutes, until she arrived and briefly told the crowd about her book.
Clinton today also sought to refine remarks she made about how she and former President Bill Clinton were “dead broke” when they left the White House, which Republicans have seized on to cast her as out of touch with regular Americans.
