The dynamic duo: Obama and Clinton's first joint interview

>>> you talked about ronald reagan being a transformative political leader --

>> i can't tell who i'm running against sometimes.

>> i was fighting against those ideas when were practicing law and representing your contributor in his slum landlord business in inner city chicago.

>> he is very likeable. i agree with that -- i don't think i'm that bad.

>> you're likeable enough, hillary , no doubt about it.

>> well, that was then, in the spotlight tonight, this is now.

>> i was a big admirer of hillary 's before our primary battles in the general election . her discipline, her stamina, her thoughtfulness. i think everybody understands that hillary has been one of the most important advisers that i've had. i consider hillary a strong friend.

>> i mean, very warm, close -- i think there is a sense of understanding that you know, sometimes doesn't even take words.

>> joining me now, msnbc's karen finney who served as deputy press secretary to clinton, and press secretary, co-authoring a book about the 2016 prospects. karen finney , what do you know to be the truth here about hillary clinton 's feelings about president obama ? and explain to us how people can get over the first clip, in what we showed about them running against each other.

>> people don't realize it, but the club of people who have been either president or first lady is very, very small. so in many ways, hillary clinton is one of the few people, her husband being another one close to this parent who really understands in a very visceral personality level what it is to be president. what it is to try to raise children in the white house . what it is to try to make decisions on a daily basis. so i believe that their friendship is very sincere, because it is part of the reason that you see presidents, former presidents become friends after they have left the white house . because again, there are only a few people who really understand what that is really like. and what the challenges are really like. so i think it is a sincere friendship. and i think a lot of these things, to be perfectly honest it is the staff that is nastier to each other and holds the grudges a lot longer.

>> yeah, that is what they said last night. let's listen to what hillary said about running for president.

>> obviously, the president and i care deeply about what will happen for our country in the future. and i don't think either he or i can make predictions about what is going to happen tomorrow or the next year.

>> i think she could have made a prediction about what is going to happen in their career. there is the ready for hillary pack, has already been launched. the mission is to support hillary clinton when she decides to run for president. i don't say if, i say when. john jonathan, i think it is when, not if.

>> obviously, that decision doesn't have to be made for a while and there is a lot of things that happen between now and them. but i think if you talk to people around her increasingly, they think 2016 is the likelihood, a lot of them are banking their futures on it.

>> well, karen , people i have been hearing from include fundraising contributors they have had, hillary clinton had in the past, especially in her senate campaign, presidential campaign . and they're indicating they get all the signals they need to start gearing up.

>> yeah, well, you know people can also read signals how they want to read them. i think there is no question there are many, many people. we saw it last week, frankly, when she was testifying on the hill who definitely want hillary clinton to run and want her to be the democratic nominee. and i think there are have folks who may be getting ahead of themselves, i actually believe her when she says let me just finish this job and rest and kind of figure out what comes next. but i mean, you know, think about it. since her husband became president in 1992 it has been nonstop for her in terms of her life in the public eye. so we'll see. but hey, it never hurts to have a little money in the bank when you're trying to make a decision.

>> jonathan. one of the things that may force her hand sooner than she may like is that andrew cuomo wants to run for the presidency, obviously, and he uses the same donor base. and he has to go to appeal to those people. and he has to start his fundraising for that from zero, the money he raised from gubernatorial campaigns can't be used. so andrew and hillary , especially concentrated in new york, need to know from hillary , what should i do?

>> he may find it harder to raise money before she made a decision not to run if that is her decision, because people will stay on the sidelines. they will look, karen talked about the signals before, for red lights , green, perhaps yellow lights. to say yeah, do what you want but not really. obviously her fundraising basis a national fundraising base. he starts in new york and then builds out from that. certainly, he will look at what she is doing. i think that is also true of martin o'malley, the governor of maryland. joe biden , there is talk about him, as well. he brought in folks for the inauguration, obviously, the first of the nation primary state. so there is a lot going on in terms of the talk about 2016 for democrats. but i don't think any of these folks really have to make a decision, certainly not for the next year or two years.

>> karen finney , and john allen , thank you for joining us.

>> thank you.

>> and andrea mitchell will interview secretary clinton this wednesday, on andrea mitchell reports, you can see it on "msnbc," at :00 on wednesday.

>>> and coming up, in the rewrite, the entirely predictable end of the sarah palin phenomenon.