Journal Q&A with Hillary Clinton during yesterday’s visit:
Q. (Thursday) morning in Raleigh you repeated your argument that you are most qualified to handle a 3 a.m. phone call to the White House regarding a national emergency. Can you give me an example of a time where you’ve taken a 3 a.m. phone call about a national emergency?
A. No, you can’t get an example like that until someone is president. Those calls only come into the White House. But I’ve been there for a lot of 3 a.m. phone calls, with my husband. I’m very well aware of the stresses and the strains, the challenges of the job, and I think that experience makes me very ready and prepared to take it on myself.
Q. What was one of the calls that you were at with your husband?
A. I don’t talk about the conversations … I don’t think it’s my business to do that. I think it’s up to him. But on many occasions there were calls, not always at 3 a.m., maybe 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. or during the day where it wasn’t just a national-security issue that had to be dealt with, but an economic issue. We had the Mexican currency crisis, the Asian currency crisis. There’s a constant inflow of challenges that come to the president, and I think I have this unique experience on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue that really equips me to be prepared to do the job.
