President Obama has only just started his second term but already, ith the announcement that he and Hillary Rodham Clinton will appear on the CBS News program â60 Minutesâ on Sunday for their first joint interview, he has set off speculation about whether his onetime rival is privately his choice for a successor.
Just five years after their epic battle for the Democratic presidential nomination, the two were to be interviewed by Steve Kroft of â60 Minutesâ on Friday, just ahead of Mrs. Clintonâs last week as Mr. Obamaâs secretary of state.
The White House suggested the idea that they appear together to the State Department, said David Plouffe, Mr. Obamaâs senior adviser and str! ategist, who was spending his last day in the administration on Friday.
âWe wanted to do a joint interview as a way of thanks on her way out, and this seemed like a good format to do it,â said Mr. Plouffe, who suggested that Sundayâs show should be âquite the event.â
âThis is a really compelling story, I think, the arc of their relationship and thatâs a good format to talk about it at some length,â he said. âThereâs nothing circumscribed here.â
Likely to be watching is Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., Mr. Obamaâs loyal No. 2. More than Mrs. Clinton, who has said she has no plans beyond getting some rest, Mr. Biden has given hints of his possible interest in a third run for the presidency in 2016.