Former President Bill Clinton said Wednesday he will be no more than a “sounding board” for his wife, Hillary, when she is secretary of state in the Barack Obama administration.
He said in an interview with CNN on a trip to Hong Kong that he would stay in the background unless Mr. Obama “asks me to do something specific, which I’m neither looking for nor closed to.”
President-elect Obama announced his nomination Monday of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., for secretary of state. She was his former rival for the presidency.
“I’ll just try to be a helpful sounding board to her, but I don’t think I’ll do any more than that,” Mr. Clinton said.
The former two-term Democratic president said that he and Ms. Clinton always talked “about everything.” He said her advice was “invaluable” throughout his career. He also had been governor of Arkansas.
Mr. Clinton said his wife learned that she was being considered for the major post by reading it in a newspaper.
“I think she made the right decision,” he said, “but for her it was hard. She adored being in the Senate.”
The former president said that he has agreed to disclose donors to the Clinton Global Initiative, a nonprofit he began after leaving office. The organization tackles such international problems as poverty and disease, and Mr. Clinton has agreed to disclose the names of its donors.
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