Even Bill Clinton claims he doesn’t know whether his wife Hillary is running for president in 2016.
The former president insisted to CNN on Monday that his spouse hasn’t asked him for his advice but that she “really does need some time to think through this.” Speaking from Vietnam, he is in Southeast Asia this week as part of a global health initiative via his family’s Clinton Foundation.
“We’ve reached a point in our life when we think you really shouldn’t run for office if you don’t have a clear idea of what you can do and a unique contribution you can make and you can outline that,” said Bill Clinton.
The former first lady is currently on a book tour for her memoir “Hard Choices,” which was released in June. The publicity campaign is being seen as part of a months-long rollout leading up to a decision on whether or not she’ll run for president. She has previously said that she’ll decide by the end of the year.
The 42nd American president also weighed in on his wife’s seemingly tone-deaf comments on her family’s wealth, including that that her family was “dead broke” upon leaving the White House, and that she and Bill Clinton aren’t “truly well off” compared to the richest Americans. The right has jumped on the remarks to paint her as out of touch with ordinary people. Hillary Clinton, whose family is worth tens of millions, has since conceded that the comments were “inartful.”
“Most people would think that being $16 million in debt would qualify as being dead broke,” Bill Clinton said. That number, according to CNN, was actually higher than the $2.28 million to $10.6 million figure cited on their federal financial records.
“I don’t think it’s a bad thing to make money,” he added . “I think it’s bad if you live in a system that’s rigged against the poor and the middle class. That’s a very different thing and the purpose of politics is to create a system of shared opportunities and shared responsibilities.”
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