Friends told Hillary Clinton ‘not to run’ for US president in 2016
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Hillary Clinton has said some of her friends told her “not to run” for US president in 2016.
Mrs Clinton was the Democrats’ candidate in the presidential run-off which she ultimately lost to Republican Donald Trump.
The former US secretary of state was responding to a question at a Swansea University event on the worst advice she’d ever had.
“I get so much unsolicited advice,” she told the audience of around 600 people, including pupils from local schools.
“There’s a whole cottage industry for giving me bad advice that I ignore.”
She said the worst advice she had received was that she “not run for president because it would be really hard and it’s especially hard for a woman”.
“This advice mostly came from my friends,” Mrs Clinton added.
“You just have to have a filter in place to work out what’s worth listening to and not.”
Her advice was to “develop the confidence not to get overwhelmed”.
“You can take criticism seriously, but not personally in a way that tears you down… and that’s particularly true of women in the public arena,” she added.
The university’s global challenges scheme, aiming to inspire the next generation of world leaders, is supported by Mrs Clinton.
This was her fourth visit to the university in South Wales, but for the first time she was joined by her husband, former president Bill Clinton.
During the panel, Mr Clinton said he wished he had “acquired fluency in other languages earlier in life… and I regret that”.
“I wish I had acquired that and I think it would be a good thing if almost every person who gets out of high school was at least fluent in one other language,” he said.
“It would be good for America too because we wouldn’t look like an imperial power.”
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The Clintons were joined on stage by Wales’ First Minister Mark Drakeford.
He was asked by a pupil at a local school what other job he would have liked when he was younger, before the pupil asked if he could “get rid of the 20mph speed limit”.
“First of all, thank you for your advice, the answer to that question is no,” he replied.
He went on to say he considered a career as a cricketer batting for Glamorgan or as an opera singer.
The default speed limit in Wales was introduced on 17 September and has been met with some controversy.
