Tony Leys

The Des Moines Register

DECORAH, Iowa — President Obama would make a terrific Supreme Court justice, though it could be difficult to get him confirmed by the current Senate, Hillary Clinton said here Tuesday.

The Democratic presidential candidate was responding to a question from a voter, who noted that the next president probably will have several Supreme Court appointments to make. The man wondered aloud if Obama might be one of them if Clinton moves into the White House.

“Wow! What a great idea!” Clinton exclaimed as the crowd of 450 people roared approval and applauded.

“I’ll be sure to take that under advisement,” she said. “I mean, he’s brilliant. He can set forth an argument, and he was a law professor, so he’s got all the credentials. Now, we do have to get a Democratic Senate to get him confirmed.”

She laughingly added that she wasn’t sure if he would be interested. “He may have other things to do.”

A New Yorker magazine writer asked Obama in 2014 whether he’d be interested in serving on the Supreme Court after the White House, as former President William Howard Taft did in 1921. Obama didn’t rule it out, though he voiced doubts.

“I love the law, intellectually,” he said then. “I love nutting out these problems, wrestling with these arguments. I love teaching. I miss the classroom and engaging with students. But I think being a justice is a little bit too monastic for me.”

Clinton’s comments about the hypothetical appointment came as she strove to raise support in next Monday’s Iowa caucuses. Her first stop Tuesday was in Decorah, a college town where Clinton’s main Democratic rival, the liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders, drew more than 2,000 people to a rally Sunday.

Several audience members, including Sanders fans, noted that Clinton’s rally was in the middle of a workday afternoon. But they also said it was more sedate than his event was.

Megan Buckingham, 31, of Decorah, plans to caucus for Sanders, but she came to hear Clinton out. Afterward, Buckingham said she was impressed with Clinton, but unswayed. “I think she speaks very well, but she hides things in her words,” said Buckingham, who works for a nonprofit organization. She said she’s particularly concerned that Clinton is too cozy with Wall Street powers, despite the candidate’s claims her Tuesday that she has the toughest plan to rein in financial-firms’ excesses.

Buckingham said she hasn’t decided whether she could support Clinton against a Republican next November if Clinton wins the Democratic nomination. “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it,” she said.

Clinton supporter Ann Hart, 58, of Waukon said she was thrilled with her candidate’s presentation. She said the former secretary of State demonstrated her breadth of knowledge and experience, especially on foreign policy.

Hart, who is a retired school principal, hopes Democrats will rally around Clinton and help make her the first woman president. “I like that she stands strong, with all she’s been through.”

Harland Nelson, 90, of Decorah plans to caucus for the third Democratic candidate, former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley. But the retired Luther College English professor knows O’Malley is unlikely to gain enough support to be declared “viable” in his Decorah precinct, so he’ll be asked to switch to Clinton or Sanders.

Clinton’s presentation Tuesday persuaded Nelson to make his second choice. He said she came across as deeply experienced and intelligent. “I’ve always been very impressed with her command of detail,” he said. “She wasn’t ducking anything in the question and answer period.”

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