Clinton talks about economy, Iran and 2008

It is a theory that some people have been looking at because there is a fear that if Iran, which I hope we can prevent, becoming a nuclear power, but if they were to become one some people worry that they are not deterrable, that they somehow have a different mindset and a worldview that might very well lead the leadership to be willing to become martyrs. 

I don’t buy that but I think we have to test it and one of the ways of testing it is to make it very clear that we are not going to permit them, if we can prevent them, from becoming a nuclear power. But were they to become one, their use of nuclear weapons against Israel would provoke a nuclear response from the United States, which personally I believe would prevent it from happening and that we would try to help the other countries that might be intimidated and bulled into submission by Iran because they were a nuclear power, avoid that state by creating this new security umbrella.

OLBERMANN:  Not to equate nuclear conflict or its use as a deterrent to the Pennsylvania primary but that is the other headline, I suppose, of the day.  Let me ask you about the campaign and something you said in Pittsburgh today and again, let me read the quote about being president: “It’s the toughest job in the world and you have to be ready for anything.  Two wars, skyrocketing oil prices, an economy in crisis.  Well, if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.”

That is almost word for word the narration of this new ad that your campaign put out today, and that ad flashes a very brief image of Osama bin Laden.  For nearly six years now since Sen. Max Cleland was cut down by a commercial that featured a picture of bin Laden, that tactic has been kind of a bloody shirt for many Democrats.  Is it not just, in your opinion, as much of a scare tactic for a Democrat to use it against another Democrat, as it is for a Republican to use it in a race against the Democrat?

CLINTON:  Well, first of all, that ad is about leadership, and I obviously believe I do have the leadership experience and qualities to become the president and the commander in chief.  And as you said in the beginning, lots of times important issues get short shrift in the back-and-forth in a campaign. 

But the fact is that the next president will be sworn in at a time of very, very difficult world conditions, and here at home, a lot of challenges.  This is one of the most serious elections we’ve ever had.  And as people zero in on the choice they have to make here in Pennsylvania and around the country and the remaining contests and then certainly in the fall, I want people to really understand what a serious decision it is. 

There is nothing at all that is in any way inappropriate in saying, look, presidents face the unexpected all the time.  Katrina was also a part of that ad.  We don’t know what the next president will face.

And I like to ask audiences to consider this as a hiring decision.  If you were to hire the person you thought was ready on day one to do the toughest job in the world, what would you look for?  What kind of resume would you be trying to seek out? 

I obviously believe that I have a unique set of qualifications and experiences that prepared me for this moment in time.  I would not be in this race, Keith, I would not be campaigning hard across Pennsylvania as I have been for the last week if I did not believe I would be the best president of the three of us still in this contest, and that I would be the stronger candidate against John McCain and the Republicans in the fall. 

And I know that national security will be a prime issue when we get to the fall.  I don’t think anybody will be surprised by that, and no Democrat who wants to win in the fall should be surprised.  We’re going to have to go toe to toe with John McCain on national security.  In fact, we’re going to have to stand up to whatever the Republicans throw our way.  And I do think we ought to get real about some of the big issues that we’re going to face in the White House starting next January and certainly during the campaign leading up to the election of the next president. 

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