Clinton's Ex-Pastor Weighs In on Her Exit, Next Step

Published June 8, 2008 at 6:00 AM MDT

The Rev. Don Jones, former youth pastor at First United Methodist Church in Park Ridge, Ill., the childhood church of Sen. Hillary Clinton, says he'll follow Clinton's lead in supporting Barack Obama now that she has lost the nomination.

Clinton has said that Jones, an early spiritual adviser to Clinton in the 1960s, inspired her greatly when he took her to see Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak in Chicago in 1963.

"I'm obviously deeply saddened and disappointed in Hillary's very close loss, and of course some of that feeling is due to my friendship bias and my strong affection for her," Jones tells guest host Audie Cornish. "But I'm also saddened and disappointed because of what the American people will miss out on, in not having one of the finest and most qualified persons ever to run for the presidency and be the very first woman in the office — but I will give my whole-hearted support for Obama."

Jones says he can only speculate about what Clinton's next move might be.

"I'm guessing, and I'm acutally hoping, that she remains in the Senate, because I think she could probably do more good and achieve more of her social reformist goals in that position of power, rather than the vice presidency or secretary of state, even."

He says he hopes her colleagues in the Senate will reward her with being the majority leader: "There I think she could do the most good."