According to a New York Times article today, Hillary Clinton has not only an office but also an initial paid speaking engagement lined up. Jim Rutenberg reports that the recently retired Secretary of State will make her paid speaking debut on April 24 in Dallas. Her office, located on Connecticut Avenue in DC, is dealing with, as Rutenberg puts it “the considerable business of being Hillary Clinton.”
Operating with a small staff, the clear voice of the “transition office,” as it is being called, remains her longtime spokesman Philippe Reines. Responding to rumors that insiders have leaked that she is running again in 2016, Reines stated, “Everyone’s gotten way ahead of themselves, and most importantly, they have gotten way ahead of her.”
Rutenberg goes on to offer this.
Those who are most connected to her exhaustive network of political financiers — some of whom remained in her orbit with plum invitations to official diplomatic soirees — say its most important members will make no move until she gives the signal.
Yes, there are those insisting that they know she is running. Clearly, according to the above, these folks would not be among the “most important members” and “have gotten way ahead of her,” as Reines put it.
So what is Hillary Clinton doing now with this mysterious little office?
These days, Mrs. Clinton is devoting much of her time to her next book, about her years in the State Department. She is also debating how best to continue her work on women’s issues, which she could do either through her husband’s foundation or one she may start on her own.
It is no secret that many would love to see her make the run, but that is her decision to make, and she has not made it. If anyone assures you that he or she knows for certain that her hat is in the ring, that person is talking through his or her hat!
Nobody is going to know for sure about 2016 until the 2014 midterms are finished.
That’s a cute hat. 🙂
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She was speaking at Dorothy Height’s memorial. I love the hat.
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It’s almost as fascinating to examine those political journalists who are insisting they are “sure” she is running. In a more substantive way, it very much echoes the later Sixties and Seventies when social columnists insisted they were sure that former First Lady Jackie Kennedy would marry this person or that, or buy a home here or there.
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Rutenberg echoes that in his article as well putting the “kill” on the rumor of a house in the Hamptons. We’ll see more of that in later years as Hillary moves on to her several next husbands that WJC always refers to. 🙂
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Still, I think you could have almost written this one: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/03/so-its-easter-hillary-clinton-running-president-yet/63715/
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😀 I saw that one! So funny! Conner is a lot funnier than I am. I got a big kick out of it. He really nailed all the silliness. On the other hand, as long as it keeps her in the papers I am a happy camper.
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[…] « Hillary Clinton’s Transition Office: No Decision Yet (So Cool Your Heels, Y’All!) […]
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[…] which, of course she has not and has taken pains to avoid. At counterpoint to this is Jim Rutenberg in yesterday’s New York Times who actually took the trouble to speak with Hillary’s spokesman Philippe Reines and exuded no […]
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