Despite Hillary Clinton telling US Marie Claire writer Avalet Waldman that she hopes America will one day elect a women as president, it seems that it won’t be Hillary ’16.
In the interview published Thursday, the US Secretary of State declared she’s done with politics, dashing the dreams of those still gripping their Hillary ’16 pins.
When asked outright by Waldman if she will run again for president, her first response was to laugh.
“No, I’m not,” she declared. When prompted further by Waldman, who insisted that “everybody wants you to”, Clinton squashed the endless speculation.
“I have been on this high wire of national and international politics and leadership for 20 years,” Clinton said. “It has been an absolutely extraordinary personal honor and experience. But I really want to just have my own time back. I want to just be my own person. I’m looking forward to that.”
In the interview, Clinton also addressed the controversial Atlantic article written by her former director of policy planning, Anne-Marie Slaughter. Titled “Why women still can’t have it all” Slaughter said she felt obligated to quit from Clinton’s roll call because she found “juggling high-level governmental work with the needs of two teenage boys was not possible”.
Her article kicked up an “epic dust storm” on the endless debate about the work/life balance. When asked by Walden about the piece, Clinton responded with “palpable” disapproval.
Pointing out that she spent her life advocating on behalf of women and attempting to make work places, including the State Department, friendlier to women with children, Clinton insisted that Slaughter’s problems were her own.
“I can’t stand whining,” she said. “I can’t stand the kind of paralysis that some people fall into because they’re not happy with the choices they’ve made. You live in a time when there are endless choices … Money certainly helps, and having that kind of financial privilege goes a long way, but you don’t even have to have money for it. But you have to work on yourself … Do something!”