Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is on the cover of this week's New York magazine, is also the focus of a sprawling interview and profile by Joe Hagan in the issue. By all accounts, it's the first interview she's given the press since resigning as President Obama's secretary of state in February.
The entire story is worth reading, but for those who care just about things like whether or not she's running for president in 2016, her relationship with Obama during and since working with him and how she's been spending her time since giving up the globetrotting lifestyle, here are some highlights:
On her relationship with Obama while serving as his secretary of state:
The killing of bin Laden, she says, was a bonding experience. Obama’s Cabinet had been split on whether to attempt the mission, but Clinton backed it and sweated out the decision with the commander-in-chief. “I’ve seen the president in a lot of intense and difficult settings,” she says, “and I’ve watched him make hard decisions. Obviously, talking to you on September 11 as we are, the bin Laden decision-making process is certainly at the forefront of my mind.”
On her relationship with Obama now and the situation in Syria:
Though she was officially out of the government, it was not as if she could leave it, even if she wanted to. That week Clinton had met with Obama in the White House to discuss the ongoing Syria crisis, and now Obama was on TV that very evening announcing a diplomatic reprieve from a missile attack on Syria — a series of decisions that Clinton had lent her support to every step of the way. “I’ve been down this road with them,” she tells me the next day. “I know how challenging it is to ever get [the Russians] to a ‘yes’ that they actually execute on, but it can be done. I think we have to push hard.”
On whether she thinks about running for president in 2016:
“I do,” she says, “but I’m both pragmatic and realistic. I think I have a pretty good idea of the political and governmental challenges that are facing our leaders, and I’ll do whatever I can from whatever position I find myself in to advocate for the values and the policies I think are right for the country. I will just continue to weigh what the factors are that would influence me making a decision one way or the other.”
On making an announcement one way or another about 2016:
“This election is more than three years away, and I just don’t think it’s good for the country,” she says. “It’s like when you meet somebody at a party and they look over your shoulder to see who else is there, and you want to talk to them about something that’s really important; in fact, maybe you came to the party to talk to that particular person, and they just want to know what’s next,” she says. “I feel like that’s our political process right now. I just don’t think it is good.”
On what she's up to these days:
“We get to be at home together a lot more now than we used to in the last few years,” says Hillary Clinton. “We have a great time; we laugh at our dogs; we watch stupid movies; we take long walks; we go for a swim.
The article explores her role within the Clinton Foundation, which she and her daughter, Chelsea, are running along with husband Bill. She speaks at length about working with Chelsea, but there are no quotes on her working relationship with the former president. She also doesn't go on record to discuss longtime aide Huma Abedin, the wife of disgraced former congressman and New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner.
Read more at New York magazine.
Jozen Cummings is the author and creator of the popular relationship blog Until I Get Married, which is currently in development for a television series with Warner Bros. He also hosts a weekly podcast with WNYC about Empire called Empire Afterparty, is a contributor at VerySmartBrothas.com and works at Twitter as an editorial curator. Follow him on Twitter.