Hillary Clinton's Plan for 2016: Beaches and Speeches

Two years into her term as secretary of state, former first lady and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton spoke with Harper's Bazaar about her favorite TV shows, becoming a grandmother and women in politics.

She also may have taken some measure of credit for the Obama administration's success in passing health care reform legislation, a cause she lobbied for in 1993 and 1994 to the detriment of her reputation.

Clinton tells the magazine that she doesn't give much thought to how she's perceived, and believes some disapproval of her is a result of the issues she championed.

"Like, for example, as we've seen recently with President Obama, when you take on health care, you are going to be heavily criticized. I took it on as first lady," she says, recalling the 1993 Clinton health-care plan, which died in Congress. "It was a very difficult experience, but it was the right thing to do. It laid the groundwork for what I hope will be a lasting, major accomplishment of this administration. But it had so much less to do with me than the fact that I was willing to take on a hard issue."

While her husband's health has been a public concern, Clinton's energy is notable. She works with a personal trainer in Washington up to three times a week, and when she's home in New York, she does yoga. She also relaxes by watching "Grey's Anatomy" and keeping things organized.

She likes to "clean out a closet, a kitchen drawer, anything that has a beginning, a middle, and an end, because much of what I do goes on and on and on," she says.

Clinton also enjoys spending time with her daughter, who married Marc Mezvinsky last summer in Rhinebeck, N.Y., the state she represented for eight years in the U.S. Senate.

When people aren't speculating about the state of Chelsea Clinton's new marriage, they're wondering when the newlyweds will have children. Clinton has said before that she'd like to be a grandmother. She tells Laura Brown what kind of grandmother she'd be.

"Probably an unbearable one, the kind who is saying, 'Oh, my gosh, I'll take the child, I'll do whatever you need to get done.' "

Though Clinton may have a "for country gene," she says Chelsea -- who campaigned with her in 2008 -- has expressed no interest in politics. Any female candidate will face special obstacles, Clinton tells Harper's Bazaar.

"Being a serious candidate for president as a woman brought out all the stuff that still exists about that ... Some of it was personal, some of it was gender based, and you kind of accept it. I think that if you live long enough, you realize that so much of what happens in life is out of your control, but how you respond to it is in your control. That's what I try to remember."

Amid speculation about whether she will continue for a second term as secretary of state or possibly move to the Department of Defense, Clinton says that after her government work ends, "I'd probably teach international relations, current events, something involving women's roles and rights around the world. I have no idea what I'm going to do, but I have a lot of interests that I hope to fulfill. And then an occasional beach, an occasional time-out."

And as for another run for president, the magazine says, " 'I have no thoughts for 2016,' she says with a benevolent smile. 'Beaches ... speeches.' "

This is not Clinton's first appearance in a fashion magazine. Clinton appeared in "Vogue" during her White House years, but was criticized for refusing to appear in its pages while running for president because she was worried she would "look too feminine." She did appear in Anna Wintour's magazine in January 2009.