Obama and Hillary: A Troubled Relationship
This story at Politico is truly fascinating: it explains the difficult relationship which exists between the Obama’s and the Clintons.
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton had a massive go at each other during the Democratic primaries, as everybody knows. Obama pretended that Bill Clinton’s legacy was horrendous, or at least not worth bragging about. His allies even accused the former president nicknamed “the first black president” of racism, which was incredibly insulting to the man who did most for African Americans in decades. Not just as president, but also before and after.
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were not very fond of each other, and it showed, and neither were their spouses. Michelle Obama and Bill Clinton disliked each other and the other candidate tremendously. Michelle Obama specifically has been charged with telling her husband not to ask Hillary Clinton as his running mate. Not out of political reasons, but purely because she dislikes the former First Lady tremendously.
Nonetheless, in the last two / three months, the relationship has changed somewhat. Hillary has campaigned hard for Obama, holding fundraisers and campaign events whenever she could. Many believe she truly helped Obama win, this despite her insulting loss in the Democratic primaries, and the often sexist attacks she faced.
Obama knows this, is reasonably grateful, and realizes that the Clintons remain Democratic powerhouses. Hillary remains a highly influential senator, and could become even more important in the coming years. Bill Clinton, meanwhile, can still count on terrific favorability ratings – when people talk about what a successful Democratic presidency looks like, they point to Bill.
Obama also adopted many of Hillary’s proposals. His plans for health care, for instance, come right out of Hillary’s playbook. The same goes for his environmental plans. The two hope to work together on these issues once Obama takes office.
As if the above does not indicate the change in relationship enough, the Politico also reports that Michelle Obama called the woman she dislikes so greatly after her husband won the election in order to ask Hillary for advise on how to raise children in the White House. Hillary answered her and gave her, according to sources familiar with the matter, useful advise.
Not all is well, though. Thus far, Obama has refused to pay off Clinton’s campaign debts. He could help her raise money, he has a lot of contacts as we all know, so it would not be a difficult thing for him to help Clinton out.
On the other hand, he does not rule helping erase the debt out either. This indicates that he will wait until he needs Hillary’s support in the Senate, for instance with his health care plan. Then, perhaps, he will tell her he’ll help her pay off her debt, if she pushes his plans through the Senate.
And so, in the end, the two most powerful families in the Democratic Party today seem to be slowly warming up to each other. When, if, they combine forces, there is no stopping them.
It comes down to the fact that above everything else, both couples are pragmatists. I think you show a rather uneven portrayal of the primaries, as if Team Obama were just terribly unfair to the “poor” Clintons, who played completely clean the whole time, but whatever. Since Obama will be president in a few months, it doesn’t bother me as much anymore
Both the Obama’s and the Clinton’s know that it’s in their best interests to work together. The Obama’s know that Bill and Hillary still have a lot of powerful friends and they could be of great help. They also have the ability of being enormous pains in the butt, especially Bill, who has a much more delicate ego than his tougher wife. Barack Obama knows that Bill is basically the only (decently smart) guy who has real knowledge of what his position is like, and what he can expect. Likewise Michelle knows that Hillary is much more a kindred spirit than Laura can be (in fact, I’ve always thought they were rather similar) and that she can give excellent advice on raising children in the White House while still being active in their own right. I don’t think Michelle will want to be co-president like Hillary was, but she’s already expressed an interest in advancing the causes of working moms and military families, so she’s not going to be the “baking cookies” sort either.
On the Clinton side of the equation, they are certainly smart enough to know which side of the toast the butter is on. They may have wished for another go at the White House, but they also know that Obama will now hold the most important post in the country and that being in his good graces is essential to their continuing influence. It this aspect, Bill is the most likely to blow it. His peak is over, and he has a much thinner skin covering his oversized ego. Hillary is tougher and also knows she has the potential to be, if not top dog, one of the most powerful people in Washington for quite some time. But she can’t do that if Obama is against her, because a sitting president is always more powerful than an ex-president.
Who knows what they think of one another. I’d say it’s likely they don’t like each other very much and I agree that it’s likely that Michelle and Bill are probably the worst in that regard. But I trust that the two people who really wear the pants, Barack and Hillary, will ensure a practical, if not personal, relationship.
The Obama people abused her, and then Obama used her.
Women who don’t see past this are ignorant and deserve the sexism and oppression they get in this country. I’m so sick of women not supporting other women. There is no good reason for any woman (unless you’re a conservative woman) to not support Hillary Clinton!
Ahh PUMAs, always great fun. People who don’t agree with me are ignorant and deserve bad things! Women should support Hillary because she has ovaries too! How limiting, how belittling to a woman of Clinton’s capabilities to state that the best reason to support her is because of her XX chromosomes.
Amber, listen closely. People can be reasonable and disagree with you. The fact that other people looked at Clinton and Obama and judged Obama to be the superior candidate (as I did) does not make them stupid or sexist, just as deciding Clinton was the better candidate did not make her supporters stupid or racist. Please take a deep breath and move on. Obama will be president, it really is over. There are no vault birth certificate copies, no “whitey” tapes, no gay sex evidence. Hillary Clinton has long since accepted this. In fact I have come to realize I was wrong about her in some respects, since her efforts on Obama’s behalf were apparently quite sincere and she worked her butt off for his election.
Again, the candidate you claimed to support has long since accepted reality. If you truly trust her, you should as well.
You do realize that all the evidence points to the fact that, despite rumors from bitter people who probably don’t know either couple very well, they all actually get along just fine. People run the campaigns they have to run. Then they get over it. WHat these couples have in common is far greater than their differences in the primary.
Accept that the drama is over and move on with your boring little lives, will you?
ole Bill’s presidency was a disaster, it’s not like Obama will change what was. Clintons being Clintons decided to “”help”" when it would serve them the best – it’s just the way a Clinton rolls.
But such are the ways of the Democrat party.
And Obama certainly owes HRC nothing. She should suck it up – and be as gracious as she possibly can when asking him to do something for her to pay off the debt. It’s her campaign debt that she wasted money on – she can pay it off.
I wonder if Hillary realizes that the cross-overs who voted to make sure McCain was the GOP candidate, actually gave the nomination to Obama. Otherwise, she might have been the winner.