Devotees of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will probably enjoy an exposé published by Vanity Fair on Monday that ponders the future of the 2016 presidential candidate. Citing numerous unnamed sources, insiders scoped the many directions Clinton's future could take, should she engage in a more public persona after her election loss to now President Donald Trump.
The backdrop for the article, which also includes some of Clinton's own words, was Tina's Brown's eighth annual Women in the World Summit, which ended Sunday. During the event, Clinton had a conversation before attendees with Nicholas Kristof, columnist at The New York Times.
Clinton, who was making one of what has been a handful of public appearances since November, assured Kristof that she had recovered from the election, but with a caveat.
"As a person, I'm fine," she told Kristof, convincingly. "As an American, I'm pretty worried."
But, where that worry might take her, she maintained it would not include another run for the White House in 2020, saying she had "no plans at all," but instead wanted to find "interesting things to do" like helping "Democrats take back Congress" and "supporting young people," especially women to run for office.
The article chronicles the debate that is currently going on inside "Clintonworld" over what role Clinton should have.
"She's trying to navigate what's appropriate," a person close to the Clintons said. "Does it look like sour grapes? Does it look like she's positioning for something?"
This person continued: "She can't look like a politician or someone who's trying to position herself. Those days are over. I think they're very mindful of not looking like she's looking for a comeback. She's trying to resurrect her image, as well as resurrect her name."
The challenge for Clinton, the article said, was "what to do with this appeal, capitalizing on her political martyrdom without quite appearing to do so."
Clinton is not settling in to write a memoir, because, per the article, she has already done that. She is, however, writing a book of essays that will include the 2016 election.
The challenge might best be summarized by a source in the story who said she could "have an impact on the dialog where it won't look self-serving. That's her challenge, to reemerge as a stateswoman, an important commentator and activist without looking self-serving or without looking political. Not easy to do."
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