“Sideline with the staff, an observer while the President is in the Rose Garden with foreign leaders, tied up in Latin America while the President is amending his personal relationship with the King of Saudi Arabia... Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before she gave a major speech on the Obama administration’s grand strategy on foreign affairs…” (MSNBC)

Some say Obama has put Hillary Clinton on the bench, and her speech to the Council on Foreign Affairs yesterday was her strategy to come back to the spotlight. Our research shows media reports have taken different perspectives on the Obama versus Clinton issue.

A senior editor at The New Republic Magazine says on CNN that Clinton holds an influential role in the Obama administration.

“I’ve talked to a lot of people, over and over again, I think, really, sincerely and truly, they say she’s doing a good job, there’s not a lot of tension, she has a good relationship with Obama.”

MSNBC states that the drama between Obama and Hillary Clinton may not be as big as many suggest.

“It’s normal and it’s natural that the President with these big trips, the G8, the trip to Russia, the trip to Ghana, would overshadow the Secretary of State. Because of their past rivalry in the primaries, their past political contest, anything that shows a shift one way or the other, is going to be exaggerated in the eyes of some observers.”

But Russia Today looks differently by suggesting there’s a big difference in Obama and Clinton’s approach to foreign policies.

“Today, it seems like Hillary Clinton really stepped out to remind everybody that U.S. foreign policy is her turf, and she took a slightly stronger stand than what we’ve been hearing from the U.S. President in the past few weeks.”

Meanwhile, Iran’s Press TV takes a very critical stand toward Hillary Clinton.

“In her ceaseless efforts at self-promotion toward her own presidency, Hilary Clinton has been far too busy riding roughshod over President Obama's dignity to realize that her actions are exposing Barack's inexperience, instead of helping to cover over the hair cracks that could be exploited by rival world leaders.”

But Tina Brown has a different perspective on why Clinton might not seem to be doing much. She says in her column on The Daily Beast that Hillary Clinton is...

“Obama’s other wife"
"Secretary Clinton can’t be seen to differ from the president without sabotaging her own power.”

What do you think is going on between Hillary Clinton and Obama? Do they make a successful political team?