Bill Clinton talks life with Hillary, philanthropic work

(CBS News) Former president Bill Clinton said that while his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is heavily involved in the work of the philanthropic Clinton Global Initiative, she has no need to use that experience as a "stepping stone" to 2016 bid for the White House.

"She's been a senator of New York, with a good record, Secretary of State with a very good record. I think that her work here [at CGI] will remind people of her domestic interests and what she can do with her too-small-to-fail initiative. But she feels as I do that we've worked very hard to keep this whole thing out of politics and to invite Republicans as well as Democrats," Clinton said in a wide-ranging interview with Norah O'Donnell and Charlie Rose that aired Tuesday on "CBS This Morning."

"It's a natural fit for her to come to work here," he continued, "because when we met, a long time ago ... Hillary was already really active in non-governmental organizations. Not me, I just cared about politics. She was a walking NGO. So it's kind of fitting -- we're coming full circle here, but I don't think it's part of her calculus."

He shared details about their life at home since Hillary stepped down as secretary of state at the end of President Obama's first term, joking, "Now you know, Hillary is on a constant self-improvement project. You know, she's always trying to improve me, so I'm having to get used to being improved more regularly."

"She's just on me all the time to sort of tone up my exercise program or do this or do that. ... But we have -- we have so much fun. We still have a lot of fun together."

When pressed onHillary's presidential and grandmotherly aspirations, Clinton quipped, "If you ask her, I think she'd say grandmother, but I have found it best not to discuss that issue."

Clinton backed away from reports that family-run foundation has experienced financial trouble, reiterating that the Clinton Global Initiative "never ran a deficit" despite a "rough year in 2009 because of the financial crisis."

He also denied media reports that daughter Chelsea Clinton came aboard to "clean up" the foundation's finances.

"First of all, Chelsea's been working around the foundation for two or three years now. And she did suggest and -- something that I warmly embraced, which is that we have -- a review of where we were, which is typical for a new organization at age 10. And several years of our first decade, we were the fastest growing foundation in the world," Clinton said.

"We are transparent," he added, "I believe in transparency, but if you are transparent, then you have to depend on the good faith of people who are looking at your documents."