Get out your hankies, because the former rivals President Barack Obama and outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are really, really going to miss each other.
The two of them appeared for the first time ever in a joint interview that aired on Sunday evening on ’60 Minutes.’ Obama requested the interview in order to “publicly say thank you” to Clinton for her service to the administration.
“I think Hillary will go down as one of the finest Secretary of States we’ve had,” Obama said. “I am gonna miss her. Wish she was sticking around.”
Clinton and Obama both vied for the Democratic nomination in 2008, and had their share of quibbles over race, name-calling and misquoting. But they now admit their actual platforms were not very different.
CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider said of a February 2008 debate in Austin, “It was a very odd debate — the questioners had to beg them to differ with each other.”
One could say the same of Sunday’s interview, where Obama and Clinton appeared to have nothing but respect for each other despite their past history. Clinton told ’60 Minutes‘ that after the primaries, she jumped right in to help Obama get elected. She did not take the loss too personally, and it was easy to get along with him since they already agreed on practically everything.
At this, Obama leaned forward and added with a grin, “It made for tough debates, by the way.”
Obama disclosed that he was a “big admirer of Hillary’s” before the primaries for the 2008 election.
“You know, her discipline, her stamina, her thoughtfulness, her ability to project, think, and make clear the issues that are important to the American people.”
Clinton said she accepted his invitation to serve as Secretary of State back then because she recognized that she would have extended the same invitation to him, even saying she would have “desperately wanted” Obama in her Cabinet.
“So, if I’m saying I would have wanted to say yes to me, how am I going to justify saying no to my President?” Clinton said.
She said it has been an “honor” to serve her President.
“This has been just an extraordinary opportunity to work with him as a partner and friend to do our very best on behalf of this country we both love,” she said. “It’s something I’m going to miss a great deal.”
Obama said Clinton has been one of his most important advisors. He heaped on praise for her ability to travel the world and redefine America’s foreign policy. She also “established a standard” for the administration’s professionalism and teamwork.
When Kroft asked Obama to define his relationship with Clinton, he responded that he considered her a “strong friend.”
Clinton offered, “I mean, very warm, close. I think there is understanding that sometimes doesn’t even take words. We have similar views, we have similar experiences that I think provide a bond the may seem unlikely to some.”
Both of the them downplayed any possible enmity in the 2016 presidential election and nervously dodged Kroft’s question of whether or not Obama’s endorsement of Clinton has an expiration date. Clinton said they cannot predict that kind of thing, and mainly they try to make “clear-eyed” decisions from one day to the next.
“You’re talking about elections four years from now,” Obama said, noting that he was inaugurated only four days before the interview took place.
For now, Clinton said that regarding the current state of America under the Obama administration, “I’m really proud of where we are.”
