2016 Postmortem

I consider Obama a pragmatic statesman and I think he saw that offering her the position, when he didn't have to, would bolster her credentials if she wanted to run again. He could always dump her if she went third rail (which is what many thought she might do). I think he nominated her because she did everything she could to unify the party (nominating him by acclamation despite a 62 pledged delegate spread, joining him in Unity, NH for their first joint campaign appearance, stumping for him dozens of times in the elections, etc). I think he saw her as sincere.

It was definitely quid pro quo, but only after Clinton gave a lot of quid.

Of all the people in his cabinet in daily contact she was probably the least annoying with the exception of Holder. Hell, a lot of Clinton's time in the position was on planes and sleeping. That's not an insult to her, she traveled a lot. And that's not necessarily an accomplishment, either, but the US under Obama was trying to fix strained ties under Bush. Have to meet in person to give it a shot.

So I think their sitting down, having beers, photo ops of them smiling are totally and completely sincere. They didn't deal much outside of Clinton following orders with this or that policy proposal. Oh, and boy, Clinton busted her ass on TPP, too, and I think Obama really respects and appreciates her for that. Her equivocation on TPP is nonsensical. She against it because it doesn't do stuff, not because it does. And, actually, I think her fervent work on TPP is why he gave her a bit of leeway on Libya. Try to get "something" done. And I'll be frank, I don't think he thought she could get a vote to pass. But she pulled the Responsibility to Protect gambit, which yes, even Senator Sanders voted for, and it worked.

As far as no love with people he had to deal with daily? I think Rahm Emanuel was probably his biggest headache with Geithner a close second.