Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called President Barack Obama Tuesday to stress that she was not trying to attack him in a recent interview with The Atlantic, Politico reported.
A Clinton spokesman told Politico that the presumptive 2016 Democratic frontrunner called Obama to “make sure he knows that nothing she said was an attempt to attack him.”
The interview garnered significant press attention for Clinton’s comments in which she seemed to disparage Obama’s guiding foreign policy principle: “Don’t do stupid stuff.” Some top Obama advisers subsequently responded to Clinton’s comments publicly. Progressive groups issued critical statements.
The Clinton spokesman noted that Clinton and Obama had “honest differences on some issues” while she was serving in the Obama administration. He noted that the pair would see each other Wednesday night during a social gathering in Martha’s Vineyard.
“Some are now choosing to hype those differences but they do not eclipse their broad agreement on most issues,” the Clinton spokesman said. “Like any two friends who have to deal with the public eye, she looks forward to hugging it out when she they see each other tomorrow night.”
