Q: Can you still say with a straight face that you have — that there’s no way you would consider running for president?
Clinton: Sitting here right now, that is certainly what I believe. And I am still the secretary of State, so I’m not in politics. I'm going to be focusing on my philanthropy and my charities, my writing and speaking. So I am looking forward to having something resembling a kind of normal life again.
Q: And yet are we up to maybe?
Clinton: [Laughs.] That’s very good, Cynthia. Well, of course, of course I am flattered and honored. I didn’t even know about some of these things that are happening now. But I am really not focused on that at all. I have no plans or intentions. I don’t know how else to say it, but I am going to get back into my life again, see how it feels not having a schedule, waking up and being able to go back to sleep if I choose for a while. I have been working or attending school full-time since I was 13, and this is going to be new for me. I don’t know how I’m going to react to it, to be honest.
Q: When you conceded defeat in the primary, you made a famous speech in which you said that there were 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling.
Clinton: Right.
Q: If, in the course of the next couple of years it appears, as it does appear right now, that you might be the person who could actually break through that glass ceiling and become the first female president of this country, would you feel a certain obligation to seize that mantle?
Clinton: Well, I’m very conscious of how important it is for us to shatter that glass ceiling in my country, a country that has done so much for so many women and really has set the standard for women’s rights and responsibilities. And I do want to see that glass ceiling shattered. I don’t think it has to be any particular person; it just has to be a convergence of the right candidate and historical forces. So I don’t think one person is the only way to do that. I think there are a lot of people that are in the pipeline and moving to a position where they might be able to as well.
Q: But there’s never been a woman who really had a credible chance, and it looks as if you might just be that person. And I know how seriously you take commitment and obligation and how seriously the women’s issue is to you.
Clinton: Right. But I’m not making any commitments or obligations because I do take them seriously. And I did an interview with President Obama the other night, and obviously I know how important this is to the press, to journalists, journalists like yourself, but it’s not what I’m thinking about. It’s not anything that I’m planning or giving the okay to others to plan. I have so many things I’m interested in doing and that’s what I am focused on right now.