Huckabee says America's image in the world has declined under Obama. | M.Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO Huckabee blasts Clinton, mulls 2016

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Friday that he won’t decide whether to run for president in 2016 until after the midterms — but that didn’t stop him from taking shots at potential competitor Hillary Clinton.

“It’s not a decision I’ve made, and it’s not one that I even plan to make until after the 2014 elections,” he told reporters after his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference.


Huckabee said he chose not to run for the White House in 2012 partly because he didn’t think he had a path to victory in the GOP primary, and partly because he wasn’t convinced a Republican candidate could unseat President Barack Obama.

( WATCH: CPAC 2014 videos)

But in his speech, Huckabee criticized the former secretary of state over the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.

“With all due respect to Hillary Clinton, it does make a difference why they died,” he said to cheers and applause from the audience.

Asked afterward if Clinton is part of the Republican Party’s discussion about 2016, Huckabee said she is — as is Benghazi.

“If the Democrats want to continue to say she is far and away the front-runner, if she is the standard bearer for the Democratic message … you bet she’s a part of that discussion,” Huckabee said.

Still, he said Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s focus on former President Bill Clinton’s infidelity and relationship with Monica Lewinsky is unnecessary. Paul, another potential GOP White House hopeful, has called Hillary Clinton’s husband a “sexual predator.”

( Also on POLITICO: GOP up-and-comers seize CPAC spotlight)

“I personally don’t like to see us get into the personal issues of candidates because once you go down that road it’s hard to ever put it in reverse and go back,” he told reporters. “Bill Clinton is not going to be on the ballot in 2016 or 2014 — it’s very possible his wife will. What she said, what she did, how she has served both as a senator and secretary of state, so I think that’s all fair play.”

Huckabee’s comments drew a tough response from Correct the Record, an organization set up to rebut criticism of Clinton. Adrienne Elrod, a spokeswoman for the group, said Clinton “took strong, decisive steps” before stepping down from the State Department to implement 29 recommendations made by a panel that examined the attack on the diplomatic post.

“Politician Mike Huckabee and Republicans continue to further politicize the tragedy that occurred in Benghazi in 2012,” Elrod said. “For some, the first instinct is to politicize what happened; for Secretary Clinton it was to ensure that this tragedy cannot occur again.”

Huckabee’s speech also focused on the idea that the United States was created by — and is still supported by — the guidance of God.

( POLITICO’s full coverage of CPAC)

“There’s no other way that can explain our history except by His hand of providence,” said Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister. “No, it’s not politically correct, and no, it’s not necessarily always embraced by those who control the megaphones.”

Huckabee, who ran for president in 2008, outlined a series of positions important to him and many other conservatives, including eliminating the IRS in favor of a flat tax, upholding gun rights, defending religious freedom and promoting school choice.

He also spoke about the United States’ position in the world, saying Obama’s tenure in the White House has diminished respect for the U.S. abroad.

( PHOTOS: CPAC 2014)

“For all the bluster that our president gave when he ran for president about how he’d play the flute and the snakes would be charmed back into the basket, and the world would be a happy and safe place — the snakes are running all over the world today, and there is not one country anywhere with whom we have a better relationship than we did before,” he said.

Huckabee finished by saying conservatives need to spend more time thinking of the future and less time attacking each other.

“This is a time when conservatives need to focus on how we will lead America, not just how we will bleed each other,” he said. “The future of our country, future of our children and grandchildren … is far too important.”