Does it matter?
I hear Obama and Romney both making gross mischaracterizations about each other’s platform and political history. I’m sure they both get sick of having to defend such made up nonsense and after awhile contempt begins to build. Eventually “hate” becomes an appropriate descriptor.
See, I don’t get this. Wouldn’t people like Bush I and Barbara consider Clinton basically white trash?
Maybe Clinton went out of his way to befriend them, but why would he? Because he feels he didn’t have the foreign policy skills that Bush I did, and he wanted to admit that directly to him? I can’t imagine why.
Because they are fellow members of one of the most exclusive clubs on Earth: Past Presidents of the US. Whatever their differences may be, having had that job gives them common ground with each other.
What do you want to bet that Bush II will never be nearly as close with Clinton as his father is?
Even though he and Clinton were born only about 6 weeks apart.
Did you read the article that was linked? I see no reason to believe anything other than what is stated. They did not know each other before except from the campaign trail. When they traveled together for their charity they both liked each other. Clinton looks up to him as a father figure. The Bush boys are so taken with how he treats their father they think of him as one of the family. Almost all of this is out of the public eye and genuine. Neither has anything to gain by making it public. Both are beyond that need.
Professional politicians never can tell who they might be working with in the future. And the ex-president club is a very exclusive one, where they all understand the pressures of the job like no one else does.
I don’t know if it’s sincere or not, I have no idea, and don’t even have a hypothesis on that. I was just wondering why the friendship exists in the first place.
But they don’t live, work, and play together much anymore. Many, don’t live in DC, and they don’t have time to hang out. In the recent past, they did do those things more often. Now, given that they are in session only about 125 days a year, and that they all need to raise millions of dollars every cycle, there is little time for drinks and social events that are not directly related to keeping your job. What little leisure time they have is not gonna be spent hanging out with people who are on the other side; irs spent raising money, amd travdling back and forth. Especially since fraternizing with the enemy might make your own party turn against you.
As for the OP, I don’t think the vast majority actively hate the other side any more than the average person hates someone who indirectly makes their life harder. But the people who are truly assholes on both sides are disliked more for their personality and temperament than their politics. Unfortunately, I think more true assholes are elected these days for a variety of reasons.
In Yes Minister, the title character in one episode goes and takes advice from one of the opposition, his predecessors’, who gives it. In Jeffery Archer’s First Amongst Equals the Tory MP is good friends with one Labour MP, good enough to get invited to the baptism of the laters son. He is bitter enemies with the another Tory MP. Both were written by people with a good insider knowledge.
Because they found they like each other. There could be other motivation to seem friendly with each other. Their is no political motivation to having unpublicized sleepovers and weekly phone calls. Although at the age bush is I doubt he cares what others think. He retired long ago and never showed an interest in being in the game after that.
Brit here, I was with a politician at a function (Non political) a few months ago and asked him if the Lib Dems didn’t speak to Labour party, or the Conservatives didn’t talk to the L.D.s and was overheard and answered by someone from a different Party (Can’t remember which one) who was quite jovial about it.
They did tend to clump together on Party grounds, but were quite friendly to each other.