Will Secretary of State really be Hillary Clinton's last political job?

Despite her declarations, certain pundits believe that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may still vie for the presidency in 2016... at age 69.

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last updated 8 January 2015

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says she's not interested in staying on for a second term if President Obama wins re-election in 2012. In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday, the former First Lady also flatly answered "no" when asked if she would take a different cabinet position, such as defense secretary, or run for president again. "I'm going to be, you know, moving on," she said. Is she leaving politics for good?

No, she'll be back: "I'm disappointed" that Clinton won't stay put if Obama wins a second term, says Vanessa Valenti at Feministing. "She has been a really strong force as Secretary of State." But it's "hard to believe" this is the end of her political career.

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It sounds like her mind is made up: No matter what Clinton says now, we're sure to hear a "healthy dose" of "Hillary in 2016" speculation in a few years, says Doug Mataconis at Outside the Beltway. But Clinton will be 69 in 2016, and "may not be in the mood for what would be another open race for the Democratic nomination." It's hard for many to imagine electoral politics without Hillary and Bill Clinton, but she sounds "rather emphatic."

This is hardly a final answer: What Hillary might really mean is that she doesn't want to run, says law professor Ann Althouse at her blog. But "the presidency is a profound duty, never to be undertaken for personal satisfaction." She can always change her tune by saying that Barack Obama hasn't measured up "to the trust the American people have put in him." Then she's free to claim she's our "most able, best experienced" alternative, and that she can't turn away from her calling.

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