WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:05.920 align:start ANNOUNCER: This is the Washington Week Webcast Extra. 00:05.920 --> 00:11.140 align:start GWEN IFILL: Hello, I'm Gwen Ifill and this is a stripped-down version of the Washington 00:11.140 --> 00:15.410 align:start Week Webcast Extra. I'm joined around the table by Jeanne Cummings of The Wall Street 00:15.410 --> 00:20.040 align:start Journal and Alexis Simendinger of RealClearPolitics. So it turns out some voters are 00:20.040 --> 00:25.420 align:start thinking ahead. Witness this New Hampshire exchange with Hillary Clinton this week. 00:25.420 --> 00:30.250 align:start AUDIENCE MEMBER: (From video.) The next president will probably appoint several members 00:30.250 --> 00:36.290 align:start of the Supreme Court. Would you consider appointing Obama? (Laughter.) 00:36.290 --> 00:44.170 align:start HILLARY CLINTON: (From video.) Wow, what a great idea. (Laughter, applause.) Nobody has 00:44.170 --> 00:52.650 align:start ever suggested that to me. Wow. I love that. Wow. He may have a few 00:52.650 --> 00:56.990 align:start other things to do, but - (laughter) - I'll tell you, that's a great idea. 00:56.990 --> 01:01.310 align:start GWEN IFILL: Not very often do you actually get to see a candidate get asked a question 01:01.310 --> 01:06.020 align:start they hadn't heard before. And that response, her response, earned her a debate-stage 01:06.020 --> 01:11.030 align:start attack from Marco Rubio. But was it really that surprising an answer? 01:11.030 --> 01:14.970 align:start I didn't think so, that she would say sure, why not, Alexis. 01:14.970 --> 01:18.010 align:start ALEXIS SIMENDINGER: Well, what is she going to say, oh, that's an appalling idea? 01:18.010 --> 01:23.100 align:start No, no. And in fact, what it reminded me of, actually, was after her 2008 loss there 01:23.100 --> 01:28.350 align:start was some discussion about whether she herself would make a good Supreme Court justice. 01:28.350 --> 01:34.420 align:start So the concept would not have surprised her, but she knows President Obama well enough to 01:34.420 --> 01:38.490 align:start know that he is going to be busy doing other things. But - 01:38.490 --> 01:42.020 align:start GWEN IFILL: For the record, his press secretary was asked about it today and said no. 01:42.020 --> 01:46.430 align:start JEANNE CUMMINGS: Can you imagine President Obama and Justice Scalia trapped together for 01:46.430 --> 01:49.260 align:start years to come in lifetime appointments? 01:49.260 --> 01:51.630 align:start GWEN IFILL: That would be kind of fun to watch, actually. 01:51.630 --> 01:54.670 align:start JEANNE CUMMINGS: I don't know, I think I'd - I think I'd give them room. 01:54.670 --> 01:57.840 align:start GWEN IFILL: One of the interesting things about it, though, is we all say every single 01:57.840 --> 02:01.350 align:start four years that the most important part of what happens - one of the most important 02:01.350 --> 02:04.980 align:start reasons why we elect a president is who's going to - they're going to appoint, who will 02:04.980 --> 02:09.060 align:start long outlive them, and yet somehow the Supreme Court doesn't ever seem to cut as an 02:09.060 --> 02:11.590 align:start election issue. 02:11.590 --> 02:15.720 align:start JEANNE CUMMINGS: It doesn't. I think it's two steps removed. The last time 02:15.720 --> 02:22.770 align:start I thought that it had some influence was way back in 1992. And I - and I think we 02:22.770 --> 02:28.900 align:start were - you know, the whole Roe v. Wade question was still very vital at that time. 02:28.900 --> 02:35.250 align:start But I think for the voters, they're worried about who's going to help me pay my bills, 02:35.250 --> 02:42.020 align:start who's going to help me, you know with my house and my family and to get my kid into 02:42.020 --> 02:48.330 align:start college and to bring - make me feel safer in a very scary world. 02:48.330 --> 02:51.220 align:start And the Supreme Court just doesn't fit in that, mostly. 02:51.220 --> 02:54.260 align:start ALEXIS SIMENDINGER: The one thing, though, I think we're going to hear a little bit more 02:54.260 --> 02:57.700 align:start about it in the general election, and I think it's because voters have tuned a little bit 02:57.700 --> 03:01.050 align:start more to the concept of the Supreme Court as being important on the Affordable Care Act 03:01.050 --> 03:03.010 align:start and being important on immigration. 03:03.010 --> 03:04.910 align:start GWEN IFILL: That's true. 03:04.910 --> 03:07.520 align:start ALEXIS SIMENDINGER: Some of the cases, affirmative action for instance. 03:07.520 --> 03:11.390 align:start So I think that the - you know, the campaigns or the parties themselves will get around 03:11.390 --> 03:14.860 align:start to this. Jeanne's point is right, though, is, is a voter going to make their 03:14.860 --> 03:16.950 align:start selection based on that? GWEN IFILL: Not necessarily. 03:16.950 --> 03:19.860 align:start ALEXIS SIMENDINGER: No. But the candidates and the parties will make a big thing of it. 03:19.860 --> 03:23.790 align:start GWEN IFILL: It's been interesting, also, to watch the president try to figure a way to 03:23.790 --> 03:27.560 align:start tiptoe through an election year where he's got some things he wants to get done. 03:27.560 --> 03:31.830 align:start But he gives an interview, he says nice things about Hillary Clinton, it becomes, what 03:31.830 --> 03:35.040 align:start does that mean for Bernie Sanders? And then Bernie Sanders makes his way to the 03:35.040 --> 03:39.240 align:start White House and he said what? How did that meeting go? 03:39.240 --> 03:42.680 align:start ALEXIS SIMENDINGER: It was interesting because there had been lots of questioning about 03:42.680 --> 03:46.620 align:start whether the president of the United States was going to meet or had met, and when had he 03:46.620 --> 03:51.980 align:start met with Senator Sanders, under what circumstances, because it seemed so clear to a lot of 03:51.980 --> 03:56.520 align:start reporters that President Obama had practically thrown his whole body on the scale for - 03:56.520 --> 03:58.900 align:start GWEN IFILL: (Laughs.) Not just a thumb. 03:58.900 --> 04:02.270 align:start ALEXIS SIMENDINGER: - not just a thumb, the whole body - for Secretary Clinton, someone 04:02.270 --> 04:06.170 align:start he served with and had come to admire, even though he had defeated her in 2008. 04:06.170 --> 04:10.940 align:start What happened is that the president turned out to have a little bit of a - I guess a 04:10.940 --> 04:15.440 align:start comeuppance about being wrong about predicting how this election would go, and realized 04:15.440 --> 04:18.420 align:start that it would be much better to look more neutral. 04:18.420 --> 04:22.480 align:start And that meeting was at the request of Senator Sanders in December. 04:22.480 --> 04:25.900 align:start That was not the president clamoring to have him come in. 04:25.900 --> 04:29.620 align:start But Senator Sanders and his wife got 45 minutes with the president. 04:29.620 --> 04:33.260 align:start Senator Sanders was asked, did the president give you any advice on how to defeat Hillary 04:33.260 --> 04:35.840 align:start Clinton? And he laughed and smiled and gave that - 04:35.840 --> 04:37.900 align:start GWEN IFILL: He said, "of course not." 04:37.900 --> 04:40.630 align:start ALEXIS SIMENDINGER: "Of course not" and gave the president, you know, plenty of praise 04:40.630 --> 04:42.710 align:start and was happy to be there. 04:42.710 --> 04:45.940 align:start GWEN IFILL: I wonder the last time when it helped to have an incumbent president vocally 04:45.940 --> 04:48.780 align:start endorse you. I don't necessarily think it does. 04:48.780 --> 04:53.920 align:start JEANNE CUMMINGS: Well, it's - what's interesting is this is - for the last few cycles, 04:53.920 --> 05:00.760 align:start there's been so much edginess between the nominee and the sitting president that what's 05:00.760 --> 05:07.430 align:start unusual is that we don't have the kind of bitter feelings between what may - who may be 05:07.430 --> 05:10.530 align:start the nominee and the sitting president. 05:10.530 --> 05:14.800 align:start But Bernie Sanders just cracked me up when he came out of that meeting because, you know, 05:14.800 --> 05:17.710 align:start the senator can't help but be the senator, right? 05:17.710 --> 05:22.710 align:start (Laughter.) So, you know, he's asked how it went, and he heaps praise on the president 05:22.710 --> 05:28.150 align:start and how they stood side by side and fought for all these great things for America - and 05:28.150 --> 05:31.520 align:start then adds, and of course we have our differences. 05:31.520 --> 05:35.840 align:start And then, you know, names - ticks off some issues, and it was like, OK. 05:35.840 --> 05:38.730 align:start GWEN IFILL: Well, but you got to give it - you have to give it to both of these 05:38.730 --> 05:42.140 align:start candidates. Neither Hillary Clinton nor Bernie Sanders wants to lose the other's 05:42.140 --> 05:45.930 align:start supporters before the first vote has actually been dropped, which we'll be watching for 05:45.930 --> 05:48.740 align:start this week. Thank you both. Thank you for watching. 05:48.740 --> 05:52.070 align:start Keep up with Monday night's caucus results at PBS.org/WashingtonWeek. 05:52.070 --> 05:54.970 align:start Also, follow us on Facebook and Twitter. 05:54.970 --> 06:17.380 align:start And we'll see you next time on the Washington Week Webcast Extra.