Washington, Jan 28 (IANS): A rare joint interview of President Barack Obama and his outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has renewed speculation about a 2016 presidential run by his one time rival turned trusted friend.

Obama sought the joint interview telecast Sunday night on CBS's "60 Minutes" as he "just wanted to have a chance to publicly say 'thank you,'" to "one of the finest secretaries of state"

"It has been a great collaboration over the last four years," he continued. "I'm going to miss her, wish she was sticking around, but she has logged in so many miles I can't begrudge her wanting to take it easy for a little bit."

"This has been just an extraordinary opportunity to work with him as a partner and friend and to do our very best," said Clinton, who was a bitter rival of Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 before agreeing to become his secretary of state after Obama was elected president. "It's something that I'm going to miss a great deal."

Obama said he had always respected Clinton and knew she would excel, but what changed over the years is that they became "strong" friends.

It was a sentiment echoed by Clinton, who described her relationship with her boss as "very warm, close."

"I think there's a sense of understanding that sometimes doesn't even take words," she said.

"It made for tantalising political theatre as the two old rivals from the 2008 campaign talked about the unlikely path that led them to that moment," said the Wall Street Journal.

Even as it noted that Obama gave no endorsement and Clinton made no declaration she wanted his job, the Journal said: "Should Mrs. Clinton run for the Democratic nomination in 2016 she would be the instant front-runner."

"The unusual joint interview," said the influential New York Times "was noteworthy mainly because it happened."

"Neither broke much ground in describing the journey that took them from bitter opponents for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 to collaborators in dealing with terrorism, war, diplomacy and global economics," it noted.

David Rothkopf, CEO and editor-at-large of the FP Group, publishers of Foreign Policy magazine wrote in a piece for CNN: "There are few certainties in American politics. But you can write it down: If Hillary Clinton wants to be the next nominee of the Democratic Party to be president, the job is hers."