President Obama is confident that Hillary Clinton is “motivated by what’s best for America,” but he seems to think the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee could work on her delivery.
“She’s not always flashy. And there are better speech makers,” Obama said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” in an interview that aired Sunday. “But she knows her stuff. And more than anything, that is what is ultimately required to do a good job in this office.”
Obama, who endorsed the former secretary of state in early June and later hit the campaign trail with her in North Carolina, said he “genuinely believe[s] that there has never been a candidate better prepared for the presidency than Hillary Clinton.”
“What I would say would be that this is somebody who knows as much about domestic and foreign policy as anybody, is tough as nails, is motivated by what’s best for America and ordinary people, understands that in this democracy that we have — things don’t always happen as fast as we’d like,” he told CBS’ John Dickerson.
The president also dismissed arguments that Clinton’s handling of classified information — recently described as “extremely careless” by FBI Director James Comey — makes her less fit to be commander-in-chief.
“I think that she would acknowledge she made a mistake,” Obama said. “But what I also think is true is that if you’ve been in the public eye for decades at the highest levels of scrutiny, folks are going to find some mistakes you make.”
“On the big stuff, she’s got it right,” he said of Clinton.
