Clinton talks about economy, Iran and 2008

OLBERMANN:  The resumes of all three of you who are in this semi-final round, if you will, of the hiring decision came up over the weekend.  Sen. Obama said all three of the current presidential candidates, himself, yourself and Sen. McCain, would be better presidents than is Mr. Bush. 

You were critical of him for saying that, Sen. Obama that is, by saying, “we need a nominee who will take on John McCain, not cheer on John McCain, and I will be that nominee.”

But earlier in this campaign, last month on the sixth of March, you had also said that you thought it was, and again, this is a direct quote, “imperative that each of us be able to demonstrate we can cross the commander in chief threshold, and I believe that I’ve done that.  Certainly Sen. McCain has done that, and you’ll have to ask Sen. Obama with respect to his candidacy.”

To some degree, Sen., in those remarks from last month, hadn’t you already cheered on Sen. McCain at Sen. Obama’s expense?

CLINTON:  No, not at all.  I think that obviously, Sen. McCain has military experience.  He has a long experience on the Senate Armed Services Committee, where I served with him.  And I think most people in this country would look at his experience in the military and in the Senate, and on national security say he does cross that threshold.

The problem is that he has the wrong ideas.  He would continue the Bush policies on Iraq, which I think is wrong for the country. And in fact, his statement about his being willing to leave troops in Iraq for up to 100 years is something that I absolutely reject.  That would be worse than President Bush.

And when it comes to the economy, his policy seems to be more of the same, more of the same failed policies that have brought us to the brink of a recession, that have brought us huge deficits and an exploding debt.  And I think that’s wrong as well.  So, you can have a license to practice law, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that somebody should hire you to perform certain services and take on certain cases.

And I don’t think that Sen. McCain is the president or commander in chief that we will need. And I don’t want to in any way say he would be better.  It would be hard to be worse than George Bush.  I said several years ago I think he is the worse president we’ve had.  And  I think you’ve echoed that sentiment on many occasions on your show.  So I don’t think that he would be better than George Bush.  I think he’s more of the same of President Bush, and I don’t think the country can afford that.

OLBERMANN:  President Buchanan’s supporters are still arguing that point with both of us, but we see eye to eye on it, I think.

(LAUGHTER)

OLBERMANN:  One thing about this has been touched on, I’d say once an hour during the entire campaign — this historical nature of both your candidacy and Sen. Obama’s.  And it has so many important and positive things for this country. But there’s necessarily an unfortunate flip side to this.  And I’ve see it in person with some protesters out here on the plaza next to this very studio in the last couple of weeks.

Do you believe, as some of them seem to, that criticism of your campaign is necessarily sexism or largely sexism, or sometimes sexism?

CLINTON:  Well, I think the historic nature of the campaign is causing a lot of cognitive dissonance among so many people, Keith.  And a few of them are in the media, I believe, because no matter what happens in this election, the fact that Sen. Obama and I are in this close race for the Democratic nomination means that forever forward, every little girl, and every African-American child, will be told that, yes, you too can grow up to be president.

I think that is not just historic, I think it’s wonderful.

But there have been, and you’ve reported on some of them, moments when people have said things, or expressed opinions, that are certainly not mine and certainly not Sen. Obama’s.  Speaking for myself, I know that I’m trying to break the highest and hardest glass ceiling that exists in our country.  I take on that challenge willingly and gladly, because I think it’s the right thing to do.

But I also believe that people have to take a look at us individually. 

And I hope that’s what they are doing.  That they’re asking themselves who will do the best job under difficult circumstances.  And we’re going to break some real barriers as we already have in this campaign.  And I hope that that will push our society beyond some of the remnants of discrimination on the basis of race or gender that we still see from time to time.

OLBERMANN:  One thing about this particular primary in Pennsylvania, a lot of us who felt that you and President Clinton were sorely mistreated in the late '90s — to say nothing of the Constitution being sorely mistreated — thought that the phrase that you introduced to that sad conversation, “the vast right-wing conspiracy,” was pretty apt, if not perfect.  And we thought, maybe I’m just speaking for myself, I don’t know, but one of the few utterly unforgivable individuals in that entire equation was Richard Mellon Scaife, who among other things is the publisher of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

I mean, seriously, to some degree, senator, I quit this job the first time around because of Richard Mellon Scaife and people like him.  And I realize you have a primary to win but why on Earth did you meet with Richard Mellon Scaife and why did you accept or at least not reject his endorsement of you over the weekend.

(LAUGHTER)

CLINTON:  Well, Keith, nobody was more surprised than I when I was invited to the editorial board and I was very open to meeting - and frankly, I was very curious.  I had only met the gentleman once in my life in a receiving line, just in a matter of seconds.  Obviously I was on the receiving of quite a bit of his activities during the '90s, much to everyone’s dismay, most certainly mine.  But I was curious and he has a lot of interesting people who write for that paper and who work for him.

And it was a fascinating question.  A lot of give and take.  They certainly don’t agree with me on many of my positions and I was dumbfounded both to have been invited and then to have been endorsed.

But I do believe in redemption, Keith. I believe in deathbed conversions and I think it’s possible for anyone to see the error of their ways.  So I’m bringing people together as we speak.  Anyone who doubts my ability to bridge the most incredible chasms can point to those recent remarks.

OLBERMANN:  I’ll leave the remark about the deathbed conversion when there’s more time.  Sen. Clinton, thank you for your time and safe travels.

CLINTON:  Thank you.  It’s great to talk with you.

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