Published on Jan 27, 2013
60 Minutes Obama Clinton Interview | President Barack Obama & Hillary Clinton Joint Interview
There are few people we think we know more about than President Barack Obama and outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and everyone has an opinion about their politics, their marriages and a rivalry that is one of the richest in American history.
On Friday, we had the opportunity to sit down with the two of them side by side. The White House offered us 30 minutes, barely enough time to scratch the surface of their complicated personal and professional relationship, let alone discuss their policies on Iran and Israel, Russia and China, Egypt and Libya. There has been much speculation about their evolution from bitter opponents to partners in the corridors of power and the motivation for doing this interview. Now, you can be the judge.
Steve Kroft: This is very improbable. This is not an interview I ever expected to be doing. But I understand, Mr. President, this was your idea. Why did you want to do this together, a joint interview?
President Obama: Well, the main thing is I just wanted to have a chance to publicly say thank you, because I think Hillary will go down as one of the finest secretary of states we've had. It has been a great collaboration over the last four years. I'm going to miss her. Wish she was sticking around. But she has logged in so many miles, I can't begrudge her wanting to take it easy for a little bit. But I want the country to appreciate just what an extraordinary role she's played during the course of my administration and a lot of the successes we've had internationally have been because of her hard work.
Steve Kroft: There's no political tea leaves to be read here?
Secretary Clinton: We don't have any tea. We've got some water here is the best I can tell. But you know, this has been just the most extraordinary honor. And, yes, I mean, a few years ago it would have been seen as improbable because we had that very long, hard primary campaign. But, you know, I've gone around the world on behalf of the president and our country. And one of the things that I say to people, because I think it helps them understand, I say, "Look, in politics and in democracy, sometimes you win elections, sometimes you lose elections. And I worked very hard, but I lost. And then President Obama asked me to be secretary of state and I said yes." And so 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. And it's something I'm going to miss a great deal.
Steve Kroft: It's no secret that your aides cautioned you against-- actually were against you offering Secretary Clinton this job. And you were just as determined not to take it. And you avoided taking her phone calls for awhile because you were afraid she was going to say no. Why were you so insistent about wanting her to be secretary of state?
President Obama: Well, I was a big admirer of Hillary's before our primary battles and the general election. You know, her discipline, her stamina, her thoughtfulness, her ability to project, I think, and make clear issues that are important to the American people, I thought made her an extraordinary talent. She also was already a world figure. And I thought that somebody stepping into that position of secretary of state at a time when, keep in mind, we were still in Iraq. Afghanistan was still an enormous challenge. There was great uncertainty in terms of how we would reset our relations around the world, to have somebody who could serve as that effective ambassador in her own right without having to earn her stripes, so to speak, on the international stage, I thought would be hugely important.
Steve Kroft: You've been quoted as thinking or telling people that there was no way you were going to take this job and you weren't going to let anybody talk you into it.
Secretary Clinton: Well, I would--
Steve Kroft: What did he say that night that made you--
Secretary Clinton: Well, I was so surprised, because, you know, after I ended my campaign, I immediately did everything I could to help the president get elected, because despite our hard-fought primary, we had such agreement on what needed to be done for our country.
President Obama: Made for tough debates, by the way, 'cause we--
click link if you want to see rest of transcript...
There are few people we think we know more about than President Barack Obama and outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and everyone has an opinion about their politics, their marriages and a rivalry that is one of the richest in American history.
On Friday, we had the opportunity to sit down with the two of them side by side. The White House offered us 30 minutes, barely enough time to scratch the surface of their complicated personal and professional relationship, let alone discuss their policies on Iran and Israel, Russia and China, Egypt and Libya. There has been much speculation about their evolution from bitter opponents to partners in the corridors of power and the motivation for doing this interview. Now, you can be the judge.
Steve Kroft: This is very improbable. This is not an interview I ever expected to be doing. But I understand, Mr. President, this was your idea. Why did you want to do this together, a joint interview?
President Obama: Well, the main thing is I just wanted to have a chance to publicly say thank you, because I think Hillary will go down as one of the finest secretary of states we've had. It has been a great collaboration over the last four years. I'm going to miss her. Wish she was sticking around. But she has logged in so many miles, I can't begrudge her wanting to take it easy for a little bit. But I want the country to appreciate just what an extraordinary role she's played during the course of my administration and a lot of the successes we've had internationally have been because of her hard work.
Steve Kroft: There's no political tea leaves to be read here?
Secretary Clinton: We don't have any tea. We've got some water here is the best I can tell. But you know, this has been just the most extraordinary honor. And, yes, I mean, a few years ago it would have been seen as improbable because we had that very long, hard primary campaign. But, you know, I've gone around the world on behalf of the president and our country. And one of the things that I say to people, because I think it helps them understand, I say, "Look, in politics and in democracy, sometimes you win elections, sometimes you lose elections. And I worked very hard, but I lost. And then President Obama asked me to be secretary of state and I said yes." And so 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. And it's something I'm going to miss a great deal.
Steve Kroft: It's no secret that your aides cautioned you against-- actually were against you offering Secretary Clinton this job. And you were just as determined not to take it. And you avoided taking her phone calls for awhile because you were afraid she was going to say no. Why were you so insistent about wanting her to be secretary of state?
President Obama: Well, I was a big admirer of Hillary's before our primary battles and the general election. You know, her discipline, her stamina, her thoughtfulness, her ability to project, I think, and make clear issues that are important to the American people, I thought made her an extraordinary talent. She also was already a world figure. And I thought that somebody stepping into that position of secretary of state at a time when, keep in mind, we were still in Iraq. Afghanistan was still an enormous challenge. There was great uncertainty in terms of how we would reset our relations around the world, to have somebody who could serve as that effective ambassador in her own right without having to earn her stripes, so to speak, on the international stage, I thought would be hugely important.
Steve Kroft: You've been quoted as thinking or telling people that there was no way you were going to take this job and you weren't going to let anybody talk you into it.
Secretary Clinton: Well, I would--
Steve Kroft: What did he say that night that made you--
Secretary Clinton: Well, I was so surprised, because, you know, after I ended my campaign, I immediately did everything I could to help the president get elected, because despite our hard-fought primary, we had such agreement on what needed to be done for our country.
President Obama: Made for tough debates, by the way, 'cause we--
click link if you want to see rest of transcript...
Part 2
Hillary Clinton's final days as
secretary of state included one of her
most difficult on wednesday she spent more than five
hours being grilled on capitol hill for the security failures in Benghazi that led to the deaths of the u_s_
ambassador chris stevens in three other americans the biggest diplomatic
disaster of this administrationthe accountability review led by admiral
mike mullen an ambassador thomas pickering found among many failuresthat stephens has repeated requests for
better security never made it to clinton's desk the story will continue in a moment
representatives and senators press her on whether the administration covered up
the nature the terrorist attack fact is we have four dead americans with a guy
that i protest or was it because of guys out for a walk when i decide they don't
kill some americans what difference at this point does it make it
is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it
from ever happening again senator
Steve Kroft: i want to talk about the areas this week
you had a very long day how is your health
Secretary Clinton: oh it's great now you know i
still have some lingering effects from falling on my head i'm having the blood clot but you know
the doctors tell me that that will all receive and so thankfully and yeah looking forward to being at full speed
Steve Kroft: right- I notice your glasses or...
Secretary Clinton: yeah i
have some on lingering effects from the concussion that are decreasing and then will disappear but uh... i have a lot of sympathy now when
i pick up the paper and read about an athlete or one of our soldiers whose
had tramatic brain injury i'd never had anything like that um...
in my family and so you know i mean i'm very conscious of how lucky i was
Steve Kroft: you said during the hearings i mean
you've accepted responsibility you've accepted the very critical
findings of admiral mullen and ambassador pickering, as the new york times put it you
accepted responsibility but not blame. do you feel guilty in any way in a
personal level do you blame yourself that you didn't know or that you should have known
Secretary Clinton: well Steve obviously i deeply regret uh... what happened as i've said many
times i knew Chris Stephens i sent him there originally it was a great personal loss to lose him in three
other brave americans uh...but i also have uh...uh... looked back and tried to figure
out what we cold do so that nobody insofar as possible would be in this
position again and as the accountability review board
pointed out on we did fix responsibility
appropriately and we're taking steps on too uh... implement uh... that but we also live in a dangerous world you know the people i'm proud to serve
and work with in our diplomatic and development uh...
personnel ranks they know it's a dangerous and risky
world we just have to do everything we can to try to make it uh... as secure as possible for them
President Obama:
i think that you're one of things that humbles you as president i'm sure Hillary feels that as secretary of state is that uh... you realize that uh... all you can
do every single day is to figure out a direction make sure that you are working as hard as
you can to put people in place where they can succeed asked the right questions shape the
right strategy at but it's going to be uh... a-team
that uh... both uh... succeeds in fails it's a a process of constant improvement
because this world is big uh... and is chaotic I remember a bob gates uh... you know first thing he
said to me i think maybe first uh... week or 2 and he'd obviously been through seven presidents or something he
says uh... mr president one thing i can guarantee is that
at this moment somewhere uh... somehow.. somebody in the federal government is
screwing up and yelled and so part of
what you're trying to do is to constantly improved systems and accountability and transparency to minimize those mistakes and ensure
success it is a dangerous world and that's part
of the reason why we have to continue to get better
Steve Kroft: the biggest criticisms of this team in the u_s_ foreign policy from your
political opposition has been what they say an abdication of united states on the world stage
sort of a reluctance to become involved in another intanglement and unwillingness or what seems... appears to be an
unwillingness to gauge big issues syria for example
President Obama:
well when moammar
ghadafi probably does not agree with that assessment or at least if he was
around he wouldn't agree with that assessment obviously we have to uh,.... put together and lay the groundwork for uh... liberating libya
President Obama:
it when it comes to Egypt I think had it not been for the leadership
we showed uh... you might have seen a different
outcome there but also understanding that that we do nobody a service when we leap before we look uh... where we uh... take on things without having thought
through all the consequences of it and Syria is a classic example of where uh... our involvement we wanna make sure
thatuh... not only does it enhance u_s_ security but also that uh... is doing
right by the people of syria and
neighbors like israel that are going to
be profoundly affected by it and and soit's true sometimes that we don't just
uh... uh... shoot from the hip
Secretary Clinton: we've lived not only in a dangerous but
incredibly complicated world right now with many different forces at work boths state based and non-state technology in communications and you
know i i'm i'm older than the president I don't want to surprise anybody by saying that
President Obama:
not by much
Secretary Clinton: but you know i i remember some of the speeches of eisenhower as a
young girl you know the got to be careful you have to be thoughtful you can't rush
in especially now where it's more complex than it's been in decades uh... so yes are there what we call wicked
problems like syria which is the one you named absolutely and we are on the side of american
values we're on the side of freedom we're on the side of the aspirations of all
people, ought to have a better life have the
opportunities that we are fortunate to have here but it's not always easy to perceived exactly what must be done
in order to get to that outcome so you know i certainly am grateful for the
president steady hand and uh... hard questions and thoughtful uh analysis and as to what we should and
shouldn't do
President Obama:
there...there are transitions in transformations
taking place all around the world uh... we are not going to be able to
control every aspect of every transition and transformation
sometimes they're gonna go sideways sometimes uh... you know there will be unintended
consequences and our job is to number one look after america's security and
national interest but number two find where those opportunities uh... where our intervention our engagement can really make a difference and uh... and then to be opportunistic about
that and that's something that i think uh... but Hillary has done consistently
uh... i think the team at the state department is done consistently um....and that's what i intend to continue to do over the next four years
thank you very much
On Hillary Clinton leaving the State Department, this is quite a story:
Last week campaign disclosure reports revealed that Hillary Clinton had finally retired the debt from her 2008 presidential campaign—with a little help from the guy who beat her, Barack Obama. Clinton’s debt once totaled more than $20 million, although it had dwindled to about $250,000 by last year. That’s when a team of top Obama donors decided to surprise Clinton, and thank her for her loyal service, by raising enough money to pay off her bills. As secretary of state, she was forbidden from political fundraising.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-01-28/obamas-parting-gift-to-hillary-clinton
Ray LaHood, thank you for your service to the people of America.