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Obama did have middle-of-night call

E-mail|Link|Comments () Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor October 30, 2009 07:31 PM

Top aides to President Obama say that, yes indeed, he did have that 3 a.m. phone call that then-rival Hillary Rodham Clinton warned he couldn't handle.

Before the Texas Democratic primary last year, Clinton aired a provocative TV ad that showed children sleeping peacefully and asking voters who they would trust to deal with a middle-of-the-night crisis.

Senior adviser David Axelrod, communications director Anita Dunn, and press secretary Robert Gibbs told CNN that it happened in April, when Obama was in Prague and North Korea tested a long-range missile.

"I think it was about 4:00 in the morning we were in there and we then discussed that and I went to wake him up and he soon joined all of us in getting intelligence briefings from in the room as well as back in D.C.," Gibbs said.

"He came in, sat down, got a read up on the military people, got on the line with Secretary Gates, General Cartwright I think. And then he says, 'OK. Here’s what we’re going to do -- bing, bing, bing,' " Axelrod continued.

Obama, who condemned the test, didn't go back to sleep. Instead, he went to the gym.

The interview is scheduled to air in full on Monday, but CNN released excerpts today.

tags foreign policy, Hillary Clinton, North Korea, Obama

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