Washington: In an 60 Minutes interview, President Barack Obama says Hillary Clinton will go down in history as one of the finest secretaries of state.
According to the Daily Mail report, in a historic first, Obama made the glowing declaration to Steve Kroft in the Blue Room of the White House in a joint interview with the outgoing the Secretary of State.
It was the first interview Obama and Clinton have ever done together. It was also the first joint interview the president has ever given with anyone other than his wife, First Lady Michelle Obama.
Kroft interviewed the two as they stared adoringly at each other and exchanged compliments.
'I just wanted to have a chance to publicly say thank you, because I think Hillary will go down as one of the finest secretaries of state we've had,' Obama told Kroft.
'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 what an extraordinary role she's played during the course of my administration. A lot of the successes we've had internationally have been because of her hard work.'
Secretary Clinton that despite the contention between she and then presidential candidate Obama during his first election, their common love of country was stronger.
'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 and 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 why did he ask me and why did I say yes? Because we both love our country.
Clinton is preparing to step down and the Senate confirmation process moves forward for U.S. Senator John Kerry, picked by Obama as her successor.
Clinton on Wednesday forcefully defended her handling of the deadly September attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in the Libyan city of Benghazi and denied any effort to mislead the American people.
There is widespread speculation whether Clinton, who leaves with high public approval ratings after serving from the start of Obama's first term, will make another White House run in 2016.
The interview, which will be broadcast at 7 p.m. will be Obama's first since his ceremonial inauguration on Monday.
