CBS Evening News aired only part of Bill Clinton quote about Obama, ignored praise that followed

Summary: CBS' Jeff Greenfield reported that President Clinton "offered a decidedly lukewarm endorsement of Obama's credentials," but Greenfield aired only a small portion of a response Clinton gave to the question from ABC's Kate Snow: "Is he ready to be president?" Greenfield did not air Clinton saying: "I mean, I certainly learned a lot about the job in my first year. ... He's shown a keen strategic sense and his ability to run an effective campaign. He clearly can inspire people and motivate people and energize them, which is a very important part of being president, and he's smart as a whip so there's nothing he can't learn."

On the August 5 edition of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, CBS senior political correspondent Jeff Greenfield reported that "despite the image of unity, some [Sen. Hillary] Clinton supporters are still wounded" by the Democratic presidential primary, "apparently including former President Clinton, who offered a decidedly lukewarm endorsement of [Sen. Barack] Obama's credentials." Greenfield then aired a portion of a recent interview Bill Clinton gave to ABC's Kate Snow, in which Snow asked Clinton: "Is he ready to be president?" But, in his report, Greenfield aired only the first sentence of Clinton's response, "Well, in -- you could argue that no one is ever ready to be president," and omitted what followed: "I mean, I certainly learned a lot about the job in my first year. You could argue that even if you've been vice president for eight years, that no one can ever be fully ready for the pressures of the office. And that everyone learns something, and something different. You could argue that.* He's shown a keen strategic sense and his ability to run an effective campaign. He clearly can inspire people and motivate people and energize them, which is a very important part of being president, and he's smart as a whip so there's nothing he can't learn."

From Greenfield's report on the August 5 edition of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric:

GREENFIELD: It was the longest, tightest primary battle in some 30 years, and at times it was testy.

HILLARY CLINTON [video clip]: Shame on you, Barack Obama.

OBAMA [video clip]: I opposed that bill, and you know I did.

GREENFIELD: And despite the image of unity, some Clinton supporters are still wounded, apparently including former President Clinton, who offered a decidedly lukewarm endorsement of Obama's credentials.

[begin video clip]

SNOW: Is he ready to be president?

BILL CLINTON: Well, in the -- you could argue that no one's ever ready to be president.

[end video clip]

GREENFIELD: And while poll numbers suggest that Obama has won the backing of some six in 10 Clinton supporters, that leaves a whole lot more of her backers who have yet to be persuaded.

From Clinton's interview with Snow, posted August 5 to ABCNews.com, the omitted portion of Clinton's response bolded:

SNOW: Is he ready to be president?

CLINTON: You could argue that no one is ever ready to be president. I mean, I certainly learned a lot about the job in the first year. You could argue that even if you've been vice president for eight years, that no one can ever be fully ready for the pressures of the office. And that everyone learns something, and something different. You could argue that. He's shown a keen strategic sense in his ability to run an effective campaign. He clearly can inspire and motivate people and energize them, which is a very important part of being a president. And he's smart as a whip, so there's nothing he can't learn.

*A portion of Bill Clinton's remarks were edited out of the video of the interview that accompanied the August 4 ABCNews.com article. ABCNews.com posted another version of the interview on August 5, and the body of this item and the related transcript have been changed to include the comments that ABCNews.com had edited out.

—J.M.