--- title: Democratic Debate: Clinton Would Keep Some First Lady Duties description: But call on former President Bill Clinton for advice canonical: https://time.com/4156222/democratic-debate-hillary-clinton-first-lady/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-20T03:52:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:31:38.383Z article:section: Politics og:title: Dem Debate: Hillary Clinton Would 'Pick the China' as POTUS og:description: But call on former President Bill Clinton for advice og:url: https://time.com/4156222/democratic-debate-hillary-clinton-first-lady/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d641498048482c3/6988763e196cf44d100398f0/clinton-flowers.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate In New Hampshire og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Dem Debate: Hillary Clinton Would 'Pick the China' as POTUS twitter:description: But call on former President Bill Clinton for advice twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d641498048482c3/6988763e196cf44d100398f0/clinton-flowers.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hillary Clinton: I'll 'Still Pick the China' as President by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Dec 20, 2015 3:52 AM UTC  Hillary Clinton speaks at the debate at Saint Anselm College Dec. 19, 2015 in Manchester, New Hampshire. Hillary Clinton speaks at the debate at Saint Anselm College Dec. 19, 2015 in Manchester, New Hampshire.Andrew Burton—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Dec 20, 2015 3:52 AM UTC Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says she would probably still pick the flowers and china for state dinners if she were to be elected president, just like she did as First Lady in the 1990s. “I’m probably going to pick the flowers and the china for state dinners,” she said. But she said she would “turn to him as prior presidents have” for advice. During a lighter point in Saturday’s debate, the former First Lady addressed a question that lingers in the back of many voters’ minds during the campaign: Who would take on the role as First Lady if a woman is elected president? [Read More: Democrats Clash in Final Debate of 2015](http://time.com/4155432/democratic-debate-third-data-breach/?xid=homepage) Clinton, who held the exclusive position for eight years while her husband served as president, said the role of First Lady has been “defined by each person who’s held it.” Each, she said, “not only did what she could to support her husband and this country” but also to promote causes she felt were important. Senator Bernie Sanders praised Clinton for her work while First Lady. She “not only did an extraordinary job” the Vermont Senator said, but she “redefined what that role could be.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4156222/democratic-debate-hillary-clinton-first-lady/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4156222/democratic-debate-hillary-clinton-first-lady/"},"headline":"Hillary Clinton: I'll 'Still Pick the China' as President","datePublished":"2015-12-20T03:52:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:31:38.383Z","description":"And call on former President Bill Clinton for advice","url":"https://time.com/4156222/democratic-debate-hillary-clinton-first-lady/","keywords":["Hillary Clinton","President","Bill Clinton","First Lady","Democratic debate"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d641498048482c3/6988763e196cf44d100398f0/clinton-flowers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d641498048482c3/6988763e196cf44d100398f0/clinton-flowers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate In New Hampshire","caption":"Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate In New Hampshire","creditText":"Andrew Burton—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4156222/democratic-debate-hillary-clinton-first-lady/","name":"Hillary Clinton: I'll 'Still Pick the China' as President"}}]}] ```