Barack Obama says Hillary Clinton 'would make an excellent president'

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/11/barack-obama-hillary-clinton-excellent-president

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A day before Hillary Clinton’s much-touted launch of her run for the White House in 2016, Barack Obama said on Saturday that his former secretary of state and 2008 primary opponent would be “an excellent president”.

As the Guardian reported in an exclusive on Thursday night, Clinton is set to announce her candidacy for the Democratic nomination on Sunday.

The president was speaking in Panama City, after an historic meeting with Cuban president Raúl Castro on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas and before a diplomatically delicate meeting with the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro.

The president said Clinton – who was first lady for eight years, then senator for New York and secretary of state in his first term in office – “was a formidable candidate in 2008, she was a great supporter of mine in the general election, she was an outstanding secretary of state, she is my friend.

“I think she would be an excellent president.”

Related: Obama in historic talks with Castro but Cuban leader in no mood for a love-in

Obama hedged his bets over whether Clinton would indeed run, being careful not to appear to steal her thunder. But in a lengthy press conference during which American journalists asked questions about the nuclear deal with Iran and Clinton as well as probing the historic meeting with Castro, he said: “The one thing I can say is, she’s going to be able to handle herself very well in any conversation or debates around foreign policy.

“And her track record with respect to domestic policies is I think one that cares about working families.”

“If she decides to run,” Obama said, “and she makes an announcement, she’s going to have some strong messages to deliver.”