President Obama appeared on the CBS news program “Face the Nation” on Sunday to frame the conversation for the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, but couldn’t help his old habit of taking a few well-aimed jabs at his former 2008 election rival Hillary Clinton.

[lz_jwplayer video= “7rs5DyCk” ads=”true”]

“You know, we don’t go vacationing together,” Obama quipped to host John Dickerson, “[but] I think that I’ve got a pretty clear-eyed sense of both her strengths and her weaknesses.”

“If you’ve been in the public eye for decades at the highest levels of scrutiny, folks are going to find some mistakes you make.”

Obama didn’t take long to offer up one of those weaknesses.

“There are better speech makers,” Obama said, no doubt considering himself in that category. “But she knows her stuff. And more than anything, that is what is ultimately required to do a good job.”

Obama also called Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state a “mistake” — even indicating it may be just one of many mistakes found by the public amid scrutiny of Clinton’s public career.

[lz_third_party includes=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSMQqxPYYNY”]

“If you’ve been in the public eye for decades at the highest levels of scrutiny, folks are going to find some mistakes you make,” Obama said.

The president did throw Hillary the bone of suggesting she wasn’t alone in making the wrong calls at times.

Who do you think would win the Presidency?

By completing the poll, you agree to receive emails from LifeZette, occasional offers from our partners and that you've read and agree to our privacy policy and legal statement.

[lz_related_box id=”97202″]

“I’ve made mistakes. I don’t know any president or public official at her level who aren’t going to look back and say, ‘I should have done something like that differently.'”

It is no secret Obama and Clinton have not always been the best of pals. The pair waged a fierce primary campaign against each other in 2008, and there were reports that the administration kept some foreign policy decisions centered close to the White House out of distrust for Clinton while she ran the State Department.

The president also declined to make an endorsement of Clinton during the earlier stages of the 2016 Democratic primary, a move that many say helped give rise to the Sanders insurgency that has dogged Clinton and left her liberal flank exposed.