’60 Minutes’ interview may boost Hillary

President Barack Obama’s joint appearance with Hillary Clinton on CBS’s 60 Minutes program Sunday night was not only unprecedented, but has left a lot of pundits wondering what it was really all about.

It was the first joint interview the president has ever done with anyone other than his wife, Michelle, and was certainly a “thank you, Hillary” for her performance as secretary of state.

And, just maybe, it could have been an early, but subtle, endorsement in case Mrs. Clinton runs for president in 2016.

Pres. Obama, saying it’s too early to talk about the next election, declined to speculate about 2016 or offer an endorsement to anyone. Instead, he said he arranged the joint interview so he could publicly thank her for a job well done.

The interview was broadcast, not coincidentally, just a few days after Mrs. Clinton was questioned, skeptically, by Republicans on two congressional committees. Some in the GOP have charged the administration’s handling of the Benghazi embassy attack was a catastrophe, and Mrs. Clinton accepted responsibility as secretary of state. 

But Mrs. Clinton can handle herself quite well without any help, and if Pres. Obama wanted to publicly thank or defend her, he could easily have done it at a joint press conference or presidential announcement.

Doing a 60 Minutes interview together isn’t how a president usually treats one of his cabinet secretaries, even a major position like secretary of state. Sitting down to answer questions with the president in such an intimate venue suggests a kind of parity between the two individuals. With the exception of how they referred to each other – he called her Hillary, and she referred to him as “the president” – there was an informal, comfortable and friendly tone between them.

Faced each other in 2008 primaries

There was a time they were equals, of course. Leading up to and during the 2008 Democratic primaries, they were both U.S. senators who ended up vying for the nomination.

If elected, either one would go on to become a presidential first: she as the first woman and he as the first African-American to hold the nation’s highest office. She was favored to win, but he out-organized her, won the nomination and went on to beat Senator John McCain. 

Choosing his former political adversary to be his top diplomat was an artful move by the president, compared many times to President Abraham Lincoln’s appointment of a team of his “rivals” to his cabinet.

But, was appearing with Mrs. Clinton on 60 Minutes some kind of indication that the president will actually endorse her if she runs in the primaries in 2016? 

Probably not, but there’s really no need to endorse her now. 

The president is close to his own vice president, Joe Biden, and it seems that the president is trying to maintain an even playing field for 2016. Mr. Biden will be standing right next to Pres. Obama for the next four years, and if he is successful, the veep has a decent shot at the nomination.

But if Mrs. Clinton runs, and this early boost from Pres. Obama can do nothing but help propel her, she’s the stronger candidate and Mr. Biden may stay out of the race altogether, as well as other Democratic candidates. That would give Mrs. Clinton a straight shot to the nomination and then on to face whoever the GOP nominates.

At this ridiculously early stage in the next campaign, the Republicans have a lot of potential candidates, but no favorites. And the Democrats have few potential candidates, but one big favorite if she decides to run.

Posted by Bruce Garlow on January 31, 2013. Filed under Berkshire Beacon Hill Spotlight,Columns,Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry