Obama praises Hillary but does not endorse

President Obama stopped short of endorsing Hillary Clinton, but praised his former political rival and later confidant just one day after she announced her bid for president.  

“It’s a little early for endorsements because she just announced yesterday,” Obama told WBNS-10TV in Columbus, Ohio during an interview Monday.  

“She is talented, tenacious, was a great secretary of state. She is a friend of mine and I think she would be an excellent president.” 

{mosads}Clinton traded in her role as Obama’s political adversary during the 2008 Democratic primary for a stint as a top adviser to the president when she served as his secretary of State. The two have since forged a warmer relationship, and Obama has effusively praised her work as secretary.  

She announced her candidacy in a video released Sunday afternoon and has set off on a trip to Iowa, the state where Obama defeated her in the 2008 caucuses. 

His comments came the same day that his press secretary, Josh Earnest, told reporters during the daily media briefing that Obama wouldn’t automatically endorse Clinton.  He said that while the two are close friends, “there are other people who are friends of the president” considering presidential bids. 

Vice President Joe Biden is the obvious of the president’s friends considering running. Biden ran against Clinton and Obama in 2008 before he dropped out and endorsed Obama. 

He didn’t mention Clinton during a speech at a forum sponsored by the Sierra Club and United Steelworkers on Monday.  

Biden has floated the idea of another presidential bid, but lags far behind Clinton in every poll of the Democratic field.