Hiring Hillary Clinton among "best decisions I ever made" Obama says

NEW YORK -- A speech at the Clinton Global Initiative Summit Tuesday offered President Obama a chance to reflect on the role of the Clinton family in his own presidency.

"I think one of the best decisions I ever made as President was to ask Hillary Clinton to serve as our nation's Secretary of State," Mr. Obama said after Clinton welcomed him backstage. "I'll always be grateful for her extraordinary leadership representing our nation around the world. And I still have a lot of debt to pay, though, because [Bill and Hillary Clinton] were separated far too often."

But now that she's left her post as secretary of state, Obama said Clinton "has the post-administration glow."

The president's remarks focused on civil society, and argued that ordinary citizens will often have a more lasting impact on improving their communities than the presidents and prime ministers who lead the country.

He criticized the "relentless crackdowns vilifying legitimate dissent as subversive" in Russia, China and Venezuela and said governments work better and are more responsive to their citizens when they value accountability and allow people to speak freely.

Mr. Obama also praised people that work to promote the rights of groups that can be marginalized, including women, minorities, laborers, gays and lesbians.

But he also acknowledged that occasionally, the U.S. works with countries that do not respect their citizens because there is need to do so to protect U.S. national security.

"We live in a complicated world. We've got imperfect choices," the president said. "The reality is sometimes, for instance for the sake of our national security, the United States works with governments that do not fully respect the universal rights of their citizens. These are choices that I as president constantly have to make. And I will never apologize for doing everything in my power to protect the safety and security of the American people."

"But that does not mean that human rights can be simply sacrificed for the sake of expediency. So, although it is uncomfortable, although it sometimes causes friction, the United States will not stop speaking out for the human rights of all people and pushing governments to uphold those rights and freedoms," he said.

It has been a busy day for Mr. Obama, who already spoke about his administration's decision to strike Islamic state militants in Syria and the importance of combating climate change at the United Nations.