President Obama said Sunday that his priorities for his final two years in office include ensuring that a Democrat is elected to succeed him.
Obama conceded that Americans would want to make a fresh start after two terms of his administration, noting that voters’ desire to go a different direction helped him beat Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in 2008, after eight years of President George W. Bush. That’s why he doesn’t expect the eventual Democratic nominee to agree with him very often or ask him to campaign for him or her.
But Obama said he would be just fine staying in the background and helping his party’s nominee behind the scenes. And, he offered high praise for Hillary Clinton, his former secretary of state and the likely Democratic nominee in 2016. George Stephapoulos, the host of ABC News’ “This Week,” didn’t ask Obama about Vice President Joe Biden, nor did Obama volunteer any comments about the possibility that Biden might run.
“A number of other possible Democratic candidates would be terrific presidents, and I am very interested in making sure that I’ve got a Democratic successor,” Obama said about Clinton. “So I’m going to do everything I can, obviously, to make sure that whoever the nominee is, is successful. If she decides to run, I think she will be a formidable candidate. I think she’d be a great president. And she’s not going to agree with me on everything.”
“I think the American people, they’re going to want a new-car smell. They want to drive something off the lot that doesn’t have as much mileage as me,” Obama continued, adding:
“When I think about the next two years, I just want to, every single day, be making this government work a little bit better for ordinary folks. If I’m able to do that over the next two years, then not only will I be serving the American people well, I think I’ll be serving a potential successor well. They’re probably not going to be looking at me to campaign too much.”
