Former President Bill Clinton said on Monday he would have preferred to leave the White House "in a coffin"
because he loved being commander in chief, but he signaled that his political life is over.
"It's good that we have a (term) limit. Otherwise I would have stayed until I was carried away in a coffin. Or defeated in an election," Clinton said at a conference in Istanbul. "I loved doing the job."
Clinton won two terms in office, the maximum under the Constitution, and served from January 1993 to January 2001. His wife, Hillary, is now secretary of state under President Barack Obama after losing the Democratic primary to him in 2008.
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Clinton said he enjoyed his position now as chairman of the Clinton Global Initiative, which raises funds to address issues ranging from healthcare to poverty to climate change.
But the former president's surprise visit to North Korea in August to secure the release of two jailed American journalists showed he still wields considerable diplomatic clout — and stole some of the spotlight from his wife.
"I loved being president, but I like my current life, too. . . I'll leave the politics to my wife and to President Obama," he said.
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