If he did, it wouldn’t be the first time he’s jettisoned someone who previously had a fundamental role in his presidency or life. Besides it would quid pro quo. She recently dissed him, although possible inadvertently, in anti-NRA remarks she made.
Anyway, Obama Obama was on the CBS news magazine last night and exhibited a passive-aggressive take on the Hillary Clinton email scandal vacillating between saying she made a mistake, calling it political, and ending with, “It is important for her to answer these questions to the satisfaction of the American public. And they can make their own judgment.”
It seemed as if he was trying to toss her under the bus but mentioned politics twice just so he would be able to tell his fellow Democrats that he wasn’t sabotaging their front running candidate.
Watch the segment below or read the transcript, which follows, and decide for yourself.
STEVE KROFT: Did you know about Hillary Clinton’s use of private… private email server… while she was secretary of state?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: No. No.
KROFT: Do you think it posed a national security problem?
OBAMA: I don’t think it posed a national security problem. I think that it—it was a mistake that she has acknowledged. And, you know, as a general proposition, when we’re in these offices, we have to be more sensitive and stay as far away from the line as possible when it comes to how we handle information, how we handle our own personal data. And, you know, she made a mistake. She has acknowledged it. I do think that the way it’s been ginned-up is, in part, because of politics. And I think she’d be the first to acknowledge that maybe she could have handled the original decision better and the disclosures more quickly, but…
KROFT: What was your reaction when you found out about it?
OBAMA: You know, this is one of those issues that I think is legitimate, but the fact that, for the last three months, this is all that’s been spoken about is an indication that we’re in presidential political season.
KROFT: Do you agree with what President Clinton has said and… and Secretary Clinton has said, that this is not that big a deal. Do you agree with that?
OBAMA: Well, I’m not going to comment on…
KROFT: You think it’s not that big a deal?
OBAMA: What I think is that it is important for her to answer these questions to the satisfaction of the American public. And they can make their own judgment.
Cross-posted at The Lid
