Clinton rules out new bid for presidency

Some have suggested that Mrs Clinton should take advantage of President Barack Obama’s unpopularity to make a new bid.

She said she is very happy doing what she is doing as America’s top diplomat and would not be the first female president of the United States.

She told one interviewer that the United States “should be” ready to have a woman as commander-in-chief.

Yet, when asked if that could be her, she answered: “Well not me, but it will be someone.”

Asked by another interviewer if she would rule out a White House run in 2016 or before, she replied: “Oh yes, yes.”

Mrs Clinton is in the midst of a two-week, seven-nation tour of the Asia-Pacific and was in Malaysia for Tuesday’s elections.

She told reporters in Papua New Guinea on Wednesday that she hoped to work with the new Congress and in a bipartisan manner and believed that foreign policy and national security transcend party lines.

In her interviews today, Mrs Clinton, who is barred from partisan political activity as secretary of state, lamented the poor performance of her fellow Democrats but said the election results followed a trend in which the president’s party loses seats in Congress after his first two years in office.

“Yeah, it’s big, but it’s not out of the pattern of historical political elections,” she said.

“That doesn’t make it any easier, and it is deeply saddening to see good people lose their congressional seats, but it is part of a historical pattern,” she said.

“And certainly I know that (the president) is going to work hard the next two years to build a strong relationship with the Congress, with the new leaders to get things done for our country.”