Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton agree that “my role should primarily be as a backstage adviser to her until we get much, much closer to the election,” he said in an interview with Town & Country magazine conducted several weeks ago and published Tuesday.
But Clinton said he’s warned his wife that he may not be as effective on the stump as he once was. “I’ve told Hillary that I don’t think I’m good [at campaigning] anymore because I’m not mad at anybody,” he said. “I’m a grandfather, and I got to see my granddaughter last night, and I can’t be mad.”
People close to Hillary Clinton have hinted at a smaller early public role for the former president as she tries to define herself for a new campaign, independent of her husband’s complicated legacy. Her team has also stressed that if she chooses to run, she won’t take a single vote for granted and that her campaign style will reflect that.
“I think it’s important, and Hillary does too, that she go out there as if she’s never run for anything before and establish her connection with the voters,” Clinton said in the interview, which was conducted while he was in Haiti on behalf of the Clinton Foundation. He was photographed for Town & Country’s cover standing in a field with a helicopter behind him and wearing his own Panerai watch, for which prices start in the mid-four figures.
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