Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton's relationship has been through quite a ride since just four years ago when Obama was a Senator for Illinois and Clinton was the junior senator from New York and former first lady.
Obama has since moved past her to the top, and many say that they aren't surprised that they have taken their relationship to the next political level, even though they were rivals during the election. Just because they were rivals for the presidential position, they never really felt dislike towards one another, and it seemed more that supporters for each candidate were the ones who felt much dislike towards the opposing Democratic candidate.
In fact, Obama was more open to consider Clinton as VP pick than most thought, he would always say things like 'should we take another look at Hillary?' while he was trying to make his decision. But from his advisors the answer he always got was a no.
When Obama was elected into the US senate, he praised her and stated that he would look to her and her staff for advice. Now, after being rivals, he is her boss. However, though they have been through this rocky road people don't necessarily realize how much respect that have always had for one another.
Of course there has been some rough patches between them during the election.
"She attacked his inexperience and called him naïve on foreign policy for saying he would meet with foreign leaders without preconditions.
He attacked her as Old Washington and defined his early candidacy in opposition to her vote to authorize the war in Iraq, which he framed as 'the single most important foreign policy decision since the end of the Cold War' " (Politico).
As the election became more heated, it is reported that Obama even ignored an awaiting handshake from Clinton and walked off. There have also been some racist and sexist issues between Obama and Clinton during the election, one where Obama interrupted Hilary's response in a debate with "You're likable enough, Hillary." and when Bill Clinton compared Obama to Jesse Jackson's presidential runs, which was widlwt understood s an attempt to put down Obama from "a mainstream to a fringe, black candidate" (Politico).
Hillary only's compliment for Obama after she exited the primaries was that he had a
“spirited dialogue” then said, “That was the nicest way I could think of phrasing it” (Politico).
It was even speculated that the Clintons avoided meeting with Obama after Hillary dropped out of the election.
Yes, they've had their rough patches but after the dust settled after the primaries, they seemed back to normal, and they were respecting each other just like they 'always had'. She then had her full support for him, and they gained trust for one another when Clinton started helping Obama in the campaign.
Their relationship has overall been fairly up and down, but now they are on they're ups, and even when they were in their downs, they still had the upmost respect for one another. Now, they are happy to work together, with Obama as boss and Hillary as Secretary of State.
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