Former President Bill Clinton on Sunday weighed in -- very briefly -- on his wife Hillary's second White House bid, CNN reported, telling Ryan Nobles, a national correspondent for the news channel's newswire , that he was "proud of her."

Clinton made the comments on the sidelines of an event in Oklahoma City, where he helped commemorate the 20th anniversary of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building that killed 168 people, a terrorist attack that occurred during his presidency.

"When you strip away all of the little things that divide us it is important to remember how tied we are and how much we -- all Americans -- owe Oklahoma City," Clinton said. "For 20 years you have honored the memories of your loved ones. You have inspired us with the power of your renewal. You have reminded us that we should all live by the Oklahoma standard."

The former president was not accompanied by his wife, who was completing her first week as an officially announced White House candidate with a three-day swing through Iowa – the state that traditionally holds the first caucuses, CNN noted. Early this week, Hillary Clinton will hold two days of meetings in New Hampshire, where the first-in-the-nation primaries will take place.

The fact that Bill Clinton has been largely invisible in the former secretary of State's low-profile campaign so far may not be a coincidence; the Clinton camp is aiming to keep the former commander-in-chief "under control" to avoid some of the faux pas of her 2008 campaign, Reuters noted.

"Hillary Clinton is going to look bad next to him (because) she doesn't possess his effortless ease with crowds," the newswire editorialized. "And -- even worse -- the 2008 race showed that he has a tendency to go off-script when he's feeling protective of her," Reuters added.

The candidate's husband, who left office in 2001, seems to agree, USA Today said based on an interview he gave Town and Country magazine in a story published on Tuesday.

"I think it's important, and Hillary does too, that she go out there as if she's never run for anything before and establish her connection with the voters," Bill Clinton contended, "and that my role should primarily be as a backstage adviser to her until we get much, much closer to the election."