Despite recent polls showing she could win the next US presidential elections in 2012, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday said she no longer intends to participate in politics after President Barack Obama's current term. She also said she will only be Secretary of State until the end of Obama's term. "I appreciate that (people want me to run for president) but I really believe that it's time for me to finish my public service," she said during Wednesday's social media event — "Hillary Clinton: A conversation in Manila." It was one of her clearest statements yet about her political plans.
Immediately after meeting President Aquino over lunch, US State Sec. Hillary Clinton is welcomed by an audience of around 100 social media personalities, student journalists, and bloggers at the National Museum in Manila on Wednesday afternoon. Joe Galvez
With Obama's approval ratings in the doldrums, and hers the highest among all American political figures, Clinton has been suggested both in the US media and within the Democratic Party as a possible running mate of Obama to bolster his chances of victory in the 2012 elections. She rejected that notion and said that Vice President Joseph Biden has done a good job. Both Democrats and Republicans have praised Clinton's performance as Secretary of State, with Republican stalwart and former Vice President Dick Cheney calling her the most competent member of Obama's Cabinet. She has been credited with the adept coalition-building that helped bring down Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. Clinton has traveled the world championing the power of the Internet to open up societies, and has shown a keen interest in social media tools, which would come in handy in any national election campaign. But she said she was ready to move on beyond politics. She noted she has already been honored to serve as a first lady to former US President Bill Clinton, as a senator, as US secretary of state, and even the chance to run as president. "But I'm looking forward to moving on to the next phase of my life. I will figure out other ways to serve," she added.
Wrapping up her second visit to the Philippines as US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton waves to the audience before leaving to catch her flight to Bangkok, Thailand. Joe Galvez
She said she already told US President Barack Obama about her plans. Wednesday's forum was hosted by Ramon Bautista and moderated by GMA News Online editor-in-chief Howie Severino and news anchor Vicky Morales. The forum was shown live exclusively on GMA News TV and live streamed
on GMA News Online. Questions to Clinton were sourced from the audience, Skype, and social media sites Twitter and Facebook. Clinton is in Manila to mark the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Philippine-US Mutual Defense Treaty and to launch the
Partnership for Growth (PFG) initiative of the Obama administration in the Philippines. She also met with President Benigno Aquino III on Wednesday morning. The US Secretary of State
arrived in Manila on Tuesday afternoon. She will leave the country on Wednesday night.
— VS/HS, GMA News 
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