Hillary says "Clinton fatigue" won't factor in her decision to run
The former first lady and secretary of state said "Clinton fatigue" would not influence her decision on whether to run for the White House in 2016, Hillary Rodham Clinton told correspondent Jane Pauley, in an interview to be broadcast on CBS' "Sunday Morning" on June 15.
Pauley recounted a remark made by President Bill Clinton: "'Hillary says everyone is sick of the Clintons!' Is that how you feel?"
"Well, a lot of people have said that besides me," she laughed, "but that wouldn't influence my decision one way or the other, because I think the voters have the right to choose whoever they want."
Clinton, who entered the 2008 presidential race for the Democratic nomination, is widely considered a contender for the White House in 2016. She said the most important question for anyone considering a run for the presidency is not whether they'll run or win, but rather what they see ahead for the country: "What is your vision for America? And can you lead us there?
"And if you don't have a clear-eyed sense of what it's going to take to restore our strength and fairness, our justice, and what we're going to do in this increasingly complex, interconnected world, you shouldn't run."
Clinton has been peppered with questions about 2016 while out promoting her new book, "Hard Choices," published by Simon & Schuster (a division of CBS). She talked about that and more with Pauley while attending a class reunion at Wellesley College.
"It's not a contest, you know, [of] who looks good, and who can have a quick answer, and all the rest, who can get the most outside money," Clinton said of the race for president. "We don't have time for that right now."
Looking back on 2008, Clinton told Pauley that she learned a deep lesson about a campaign: "Whoever runs has to recognize that the American political system is probably the most difficult, even brutal, in the world."
In the interview, Clinton also talks with Pauley about her headline-making commencement speech at Wellesley College back in 1969; her experiences as Secretary of State, including Congressional questions over the attack in Banghazi, Libya; her health; and the recent prisoner swap of Taliban detainees to get back Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl after he spent five years in captivity.
Pauley also talks with some of Clinton's Wellesley classmates, including Wendy Judge Paulson, whose parents back in 1969 told her, "If there was ever going to be a woman president, it's gonna be Hillary Rodham."
"Sunday Morning," hosted by Charles Osgood, is broadcast Sundays on CBS at 9:00 a.m. ET.
For more info:
- "Hard Choices" by Hillary Rodham Clinton (Simon & Schuster); Also available in eBook, Unabridged Audio Download and CD, and Abridged Audio Download and CD