Barack Obama's 2009 Inaugural Address: The Clintons
Barack Obama's 2009 Inaugural Address: The Clintons
In early 2007, lots of people assumed Hillary Clinton was going to be the Democratic nominee for president. With name recognition and experience, she was a safe pick to win. Like the New England Patriots. Or pizza. Then Obama went on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and did a sweet dance.
With the "swagalicious" young Obama (Michelle's words) now in the running, Clinton had to unleash all her political weapons. And naturally that included her husband, former president Bill Clinton. Bill criticized Obama so much during the 2008 primary campaign that, at times, the media coverage made it seem like both Clintons were running for president as one hybrid super politician: Billary Clinton.
Kind of like Kimye, but not.
The Clintons' main criticism of Obama concerned the qualities necessary for presidential leadership. Hillary argued that her many years of experience made her a better pick, compared to Obama's inspiring speeches. She even went so far as to call him "naïve" about American foreign policy (source). Ouch.
As per usual in these primary fights, Obama gave it right back to Hillary, slamming her for voting in favor of the Iraq War as a senator. Bill Clinton took exception to this because Obama hadn't even been in the room during the vote on Iraq; he was still in the Illinois General Assembly. That's like saying your high school team would have won the state championship…if you hadn't still been playing for the middle-school team. Sick burn.
Eventually, Obama prevailed in a primary race that was both statistically close and vicious. (Don't worry, ultimately the story has a happy ending with Bill, Hillary, and Obama all becoming besties 4 life. They even vacation together.)