Bill Clinton Reportedly Said Obama 'Would Have Been Carrying Our Bags' a 'Few Years Ago

The New Yorker has published a piece titled "Let's Be Friends: Two Presidents Find a Mutual Advantage," in which they claim Bill Clinton told Ted Kennedy that Barack Obama "would have been carrying our bags" a few years ago during the last presidential election.

The statement, passed on to the New Yorker by sources of Tim Russert, was allegedly made in an effort to convince the late senator to endorse Hillary Clinton for president.

The New Yorker relates:

Bill Clinton, in an effort to secure an endorsement for Hillary from Ted Kennedy, said to Kennedy, “A few years ago, this guy would have been carrying our bags.” Clinton’s role in the campaign rattled Obama. He told ABC News in an interview that Clinton “has taken his advocacy on behalf of his wife to a level that I think is pretty troubling.”

The article is largely a chronology of Barack Obama and Bill Clinton's relationship, which began with a degree of mutual distrust and, according to David Axelrod, has improved significantly.

“Would I be truthful if I said to you that we went through a long and difficult campaign in 2007-08 and as soon as it was over the relationship was instantly close?” he said. “I mean, that just defies human nature. But I think it’s grown up over time.”

Bill Clinton will be giving a keynote address at the Democratic convention this week in Charlotte, North Carolina, the Weekly Standard notes.

(H/T: Drudge)