That Obama-Clinton Chemistry (Joint 60-Minutes Interview) [View all]

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Last edited Mon Jan 28, 2013, 01:43 PM - Edit history (2)

from Joan Walsh at Salon: http://www.salon.com/2013/01/28/that_obama_clinton_chemistry/




That Obama-Clinton Chemistry
It wasn't about 2016. It was about two hard-working "gluttons for punishment" enjoying their unlikely friendship

. . . I’m not entirely sure why the joint interview, which was hyped for so many days, whose hype I resisted, wound up being so affecting. But let me throw out a few thoughts about it.

I’m sure most of it was the bitter battle between the two of them. It was nice to see that Obama giving Clinton a tough and high-profile job wasn’t merely placating or co-opting a rival. And maybe the glow was just what happens when two charismatic figures with adorable chemistry appear together. We’ve seen them together only briefly on stage. We’ve seen them, sadly, at the homecoming for dead heroes like Libyan Ambassador Chris Stevens and the other Americans killed in Benghazi.

There may simply be a remarkable charge when these two amazing firsts – first African American president, first 18-million-cracks-in-the-glass-ceiling female candidate — come together. And when they don’t fight, like those firsts are supposed to do, and once did, but they glory in one another’s radiance, and they support one another.

. . . So set aside 2016. I’m not sure why the president wanted to do the joint interview – Steve Kroft said it was his idea, which is interesting, but who really knows? But I’m glad they did. In this era of ugly near mortal political combat, it’s reassuring when two formal rivals come together. Their obvious physical comfort and warmth was strangely moving.

Seeing two of the world’s most powerful people, who happen to be a black man and a white woman, leaning in against one another and laughing and sighing, sharing their enjoyment of one another’s company and their relief at the hard times they’ve seen the country through — well, now I’m not sure why I was acting like it was hard to explain its delight. It was delightful.


read: http://www.salon.com/2013/01/28/that_obama_clinton_chemistry/

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