Mobile-Phone Transmission

[Static. Dialing.]

FEMALE VOICE: Hello?

MALE VOICE: Hi. Hillary? This is Barack.

SENATOR CLINTON: Mr. President-elect, it’s nice to hear from you. Thanks for calling.

P-EOTUS: Glad to. I know that you and I haven’t spoken directly about some of the things that have been discussed between our two groups.

SENATOR CLINTON: Well, I’m just happy that you could take the time to talk one-on-one.

P-EOTUS: Of course. Now, I understand that you’ve got some reservations about the job at State.

SENATOR CLINTON: Can I be frank? I’m honored, of course, to be considered. But I’m also concerned about access, about being able to talk to you regularly, one-on-one, about the issues that come up in foreign policy. And I guess that’s why I wanted to speak to you directly — just between us, to get this clear.

P-EOTUS: No, no, I get it. I get it. And look, Hillary, I wouldn’t have asked you if I didn’t think [garbled audio].

SENATOR CLINTON: Mr. President-elect? I didn’t get that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE VOICE: I didn’t get that either.

P-EOTUS: I just said that I wouldn’t have asked you if I didn’t expect to be regularly speaking with you directly. It’s your judgment and discretion that I . . . wait, who was that?

SENATOR CLINTON: Who was who?

P-EOTUS: Somebody else just said something on this line.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE VOICE: That was me.

P-EOTUS: Who is this?

SENATOR CLINTON: Oh, that’s Jon Alter, from Newsweek. I asked him to hop on the call. Is that okay?

P-EOTUS: Not really. I thought this was a one-on-one deal.

SENATOR CLINTON: It is! It is! It’s just you and me and Jon Alter from Newsweek.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE VOICE: And me.

SENATOR CLINTON: Oh, right. And Adam Nagourney from the Times.

ADAM NAGOURNEY: Hello, Mr. President-elect.

P-EOTUS: Um, hi.

SENATOR CLINTON: And that’s it. Just those guys. And me. And Dana Milbank from the Post.

DANA MILBANK: Hi, Mr. President-elect!

SENATOR CLINTON: It’s a pretty small group, actually. We could conference them all in without having to use the server farm we set up in the desert.

P-EOTUS: This is sort of a lot of people.

SENATOR CLINTON: Not really. It’s just so much more efficient to have them on the line at the time, rather than tracking them all down later and telling them what everyone said and thought and did. I mean, this just cuts right through all of that back-and-forthing and stuff.

P-EOTUS: Um, well, this is really not what I . . . I mean I may have to rethink —

SENATOR CLINTON: Before you go on, Mr. President-elect, may I just say something? I’d like to say that I accept. I’m honored and thrilled and eager to get started. And I accept your nomination to be the next secretary of state, and to be a kind of “super” secretary, with unprecedented access to you, and with an almost unlimited portfolio. Thank you, sir. Thank you so much. Guys, did you get that?

JON ALTER: Got it.

ADAM NAGOURNEY: Got it.

DANA MILBANK: Got it.

P-EOTUS: Um, well . . .

SENATOR CLINTON: Fellas, I think you might want to play around with the title “Super Secretary” or “Super Cabinet” or something that really shows the difference between what I’m going to be doing here and what someone like, I want to say, someone like a Bill Richardson or a who-knows-who is going to be doing. I’m sort of a floating-above-it kind of figure here, guiding and shaping and helping this very new, very inexperienced, untested president find his sea legs. It’s like, you know, I can’t help but think about when I was younger and I’d go hunting with my father, and we’d be hunting and we’d see the young newborn ponies just stumbling around, all legs and gawky ears and things, and then the tough mare would sort of bite them and nudge them and spit at them to get them in line. It’s like that. Write that down. Did you guys get that? Should I repeat that?

P-EOTUS: Wait a minute . . .

DANA MILBANK: Got it.

JON ALTER: Got it.

ADAM NAGOURNEY: Got it. Hunting for ponies. Got it.

SENATOR CLINTON: No, I didn’t hunt ponies. Did I? What did I hunt for?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE VOICE: Ducks, honey.

SENATOR CLINTON: Right, ducks.

P-EOTUS: Is that . . .

SENATOR CLINTON: Say hi, Bill.

BILL CLINTON: Hey, Mr. President-elect. How’s it?

P-EOTUS: Not so good. What just happened?

BILL CLINTON: Get used to it, bro.

[Static.]

END EXTRACT