White House: Hillary ‘Proved To Be a Very Effective Secretary of State’

EARNEST: “The fact is the president obviously had an opportunity to see up close how effective a campaigner she can be. She was obviously a very formidable opponent in the 2008 contest for the democratic nomination. During the general election in 2008, Secretary Clinton was a very effective advocate for President Obama's general election campaign and over the course of the president's first term here in office, Secretary Clinton proved to be a very effective secretary of state.

So over that time, President Obama has had the opportunity to build strong personal relationship with her. And as the president indicated in his news conference on Saturday, the two of them have become friends. But as has been speculated by all of you and many others, there are other people who are friends with the president who may at some point decide to get into the race.

So the president has not offered up any sort of endorsement at this point. This will be the responsibility of democratic voters to decide who should be the democratic nominee for president, but I'd anticipate that once process is concluded and democratic voters across the country have decided who the democratic nominee should be, I think that democratic nominee can be counted that will enjoy the support of President Obama."