President Obama believes that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is the most qualified candidate ever to seek the country’s highest office, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Thursday.
“When you just take a raw look at qualifications, I think that’s pretty obvious,” Earnest said when asked if Obama considers his one-time rival more prepared to be commander in chief than he was in 2008.
In endorsing Clinton Thursday afternoon, Obama bestowed the superlative on his former top diplomat.
“In fact, I don’t think there’s ever been someone so qualified to hold his office,” he stated.
Earnest said her four years as secretary of state, time in the Senate and eight years as first lady and decades in the public eye uniquely position her to become president.
“She’s somebody who brings a wide range of experience,” Earnest said. He included her time in the White House with President Clinton “because she traveled the world and was, particularly at the end of her tenure, essentially a diplomat for the United States,” he said.
When pressed on the matter, he conceded that some former vice presidents were likely equally qualified.
“With the exception of sitting vice presidents, I think you’d be hard-pressed to come up with a candidate throughout history” who was more qualified than Clinton, he said.
