Hillary Rodham Clinton says she will "speak out where I think things are important" during her husband's second term as president but is offering few clues if she has any plans for a new major policy role.
In her weekly newspaper column, the first lady said she would dedicate her time to "what I call the tools of opportunity: adequate health care, education, access to jobs and credit, protection from violence and injustice and the freedom to participate fully in the political life of their country."She said she was looking forward to an active role in two upcoming conferences in Washington: one next month promoting international efforts to provide credit to entrepreneurs in lower-income and less developed areas; the other a spring White House conference on improving brain development in young children.
"While the issues I work on may seem different on the surface, they all come back to what I care about most - ensuring that all people have the chance for a better life," she wrote in her column, "Talking it Over."
The first lady's active role in administration policy has made her a lightning rod to conservatives who describe her as a big-government liberal. And her work developing the administration's failed 1994 health care initiative proved a major political liability to her husband.
During last year's campaign, Hillary Clinton said it was possible she would take an active role in overseeing how states implement the new welfare law, which gives the states broad latitude over eligibility and benefit levels. But aides have said her comments were exaggerated to imply a formal policy role.
In a CBS interview to be broadcast Sunday, the first lady said, "I intend to speak out where I think things are important."
"Whether it's a role, or whether it's formal or not, I don't think it's as important as using this chance that I have to bring attention to issues" such as welfare, health and education, she said.