Bipartisan praise for Hillary Clinton as she moves on

This post was updated at 3:17 p.m. ET

Kind words are coming from everyone - including Republicans - as Hillary Clinton steps down from her post as secretary of state.

She sat down for an exit interview with President Obama on Friday - their first joint interview ever, to air tonight on CBS' "60 Minutes" - and the two discussed Clinton's tenure at the State Department, their working relationship, and the evolution of their friendship in the aftermath of a bitter 2008 primary fight.

Mr. Obama hailed Clinton as "one of the finest" secretaries of state in American history, crediting her "hard work" with "a lot of the successes we've had internationally."

Clinton noted that their relationship today might seem "improbable" given the acrimony of the 2008 primary, but explained, "In politics and in democracy, sometimes you win elections and sometimes you lose elections. And I worked very hard and 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."

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Preview: The President and the Secretary of State

Their decision to schedule a joint interview - the only joint interview Mr. Obama has done as president with someone other than First Lady Michelle Obama - has stoked speculation about Clinton's aspirations for 2016 and Mr. Obama's role in queuing up her decision.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., declared, "I'm a fan" of Hillary Clinton on CNN's "State of the Union", adding, "I would love it if she would run" in 2016.

Even Republicans seemed to go out of their way to praise the outgoing secretary of state.

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee and possible future presidential contender himself, lauded both Hillary and Bill Clinton on NBC's Meet the Press, arguing, "Look, if we had a Clinton presidency, if we had Erskine Bowles as Chief of Staff of the White House or president of the United States, I think we would have fixed this fiscal mess by now. That's not the kind of presidency we're dealing with right now."

It is not clear whether Ryan was talking about a Bill Clinton or Hillary Clinton presidency, but it was eminently clear that he thought both Clintons would be better fiscal stewards than Mr. Obama.

• In final days as Secretary of State, Clinton faces Benghazi grilling
• Obama on Clinton: I'm going to miss her

And Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, took to "Fox News Sunday" to run interference on Hillary Clinton's behalf.

Some Republicans aggressively questioned her at a Foreign Relations Committee hearing last week and tried to blame the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi and the government's controversial explanation afterwards on Clinton, but Corker absolved her of any culpability in the tragedy, noting, "The deception around the Benghazi issue did not come from the State Department and no doubt emanated from Susan Rice on this program and on others...It was more of a White House political operative deception that was carried out, not from the State Department."

"I understand the point she was making," he added.

The State Department confirmed today that February 1 will be Clinton's last day as Secretary of State.

[1snafu2]

GOP praise for imaginary Clinton Presidency is nothing more than an obvious ploy to divide the very united Democratic party at the moment. Dwelling on Rice, and repeating "deception" where none was intended shows how unrealistic, partisan, and willing to lie the GOP is. No investigation into the 11 attacks under Bush, no mention of Clinton's warning on Embassy security when the GOP cut funds, and attempts at a backdoor coup by altering voting rights laws, the electoral college, and gerrymandering all contribute to the extremely low public view of the GOP, and to their sinking fortunes.

[nubwaxer]

"Look, if we had a Clinton presidency . . ."
Lyin' Ryan is so going to have his wish come true.

[MICAH_STONE]

Clearly, the leftist-biased, totally corrupt socialist media in now in full slobbering-love with the prospect of low-information types voting for Shrillary Rotten Clinton for d-cRAT dictator/president in 2016. I have to admit, she LIES and SHIRKS RESPONSIBILITY almost as well as the current WORST PRESIDENT IN AMERICAN HISTORY.

[ccb5508]

"at this point....does it even matter?"

[hypnotoad72]

If Paul Ryan is praising her, then what should we be worried about?

Don't say "nothing".

[raymailhot]

He said she would not have been as bad as the president we have! I like that to be praise?

[raymailhot]

Benghazi was a failure at more than an organized deceptive report of the incident. It was a failure at protecting the people on the ground and a failure to respond intelligently to their plea for help. This is on the head of state and the sec of state, but we try to diminish the real problem with the light version of just lying to the American people.

[hypnotoad72]

If you remember Iran/Contra, or Rumsfeld shaking Saddam's hand, there's probably a reason or two or thirty or whatever as to why we shouldn't be helping AFTER a certain point...

[raymailhot]

So you have rhetoric to back bad policy?

[tjl456]

So what did she do in 4 years that was so good. The middle east is in flames, Egypt is now controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood, Syria is in a civil war, and our ambassador to Libya is dead along with 3 other men. And, Israel is being thrown to the wolves. Oh, I forgot, she has a new t-shirt with 112 on it, and probably enough Frequent Flyer miles to fly anywhere she want for the rest of her life free... That sound like a pretty productive 4 years.

[raymailhot]

The Arab spring isn't over, so Kerry can be blamed for future bad results say in Iraq, Sudan, Mali or Pakistan when she runs for office! In 4 years what are the promises of these bad policies?

[hypnotoad72]

Forgive me, but we are not a one-world government that runs the middle east.

Each country is still its own sovereign nation and how they run their countries impacts their peoples' lives. When people get sufficiently upset, they respond.

Other countries can manipulate, but the nations noting that can respond any way they wish, not forgetting about the people under their rule... think into that what you will, but some of this stuff has been going on for decades if not centuries. Didn't Billy Joel write a song about it? About starting a fire or something? Oh well...