Former US First lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has indicated that it may be only early next year that she would be taking a decision on whether to make another presidential bid.
“I just want to kind of get through this year, travel around the country, sign books, help in the midterm elections in the fall, and then take a deep breath and kind of go through my pluses and minuses about what I will — and will not — be thinking about as I make the decision,” Clinton told ABC News in an interview on the eve of the release of her new memoir, titled “Hard Choices”.
Clinton, who began by saying that she will be “on the way to making a decision” by the end of this year, noted that it was “probably likely” that she would not make an announcement until next year.
With an exceptionally high approval rating, Clinton continues to head the list of Democratic favourites for the 2016 race. A new ABC News/Washington Post poll released on Sunday give Clinton a commanding lead, with 69 per cent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents supporting her for the party’s nomination. Vice-President Joe Biden gets a mere 12 per cent.
When it was put to her that a delayed decision by her may be hurting her party and other potential candidates, Clinton said: “People can do whatever they choose to do on whatever timetable they decide.”
Indicating she is no hurry, she pointed out that her husband, Bill Clinton, made the decision on his own 1992 bid official only in September-October of 1991. As for other prospective Democratic candidates, she commented: “People will do what they think is best for them. Whether they choose to seek the presidency or not is very personal, for everybody.”
About her standing on different parameters, the poll found that 67 per cent of Americans view her as a strong leader, 60 per cent say she’s honest and trustworthy, and 59 per cent say she has new ideas for the country’s future.
Some pre-release media accounts of Clinton’s book point to certain foreign policy areas where she differed with President Barack Obama.
On Syria, ravaged by a long-running civil war, Clinton favoured arming and training moderate Syrian rebels, thus putting in place effective coordination with regional partners. But Obama’s inclination was to stay the course. “No one likes to lose a debate, including me. But this was the President’s call and I respected his deliberations and decision,” she wrote, adding: “From the beginning of our partnership, he had promised me that would always get a fair hearing. And I always did. In this case, my position didn’t prevail.”
On negotiations with the Taliban and attempts to secure the freedom of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, whose recent release is now the subject of a raging controversy, Clinton writes: “The Taliban’s top concern seemed to be the fate of its fighters being held at Guantanamo Bay and other prisons. In every discussion about prisoners, we demanded the release of Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who had been captured in 2009. There would not be any agreement about prisoners without the sergeant coming home.”
“I acknowledged, as I had many times before, that opening the door to negotiations with the Taliban would be hard to swallow for many Americans after so many years of war,” she notes.