Why Obama Thanked Hillary

National Journal notes the highlight of last night’s 60 Minutes interview with President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was the president’s public thank you to his former rival.

“Obama has, in truth, good reason to feel grateful to his former political rival — far more than the public generally knows. In a remarkable display of discipline and devotion after one of the fiercest primary fights in American political history, Clinton managed to submerge her political ego almost totally during her four years in office. Yet her journey from dominant Democratic political figure — a presidential candidate seen at one point as an easy winner over the upstart Obama — to loyal messenger and defender of the Obama faith wasn’t easy. And, to Clinton’s credit, it happened almost entirely out of the headlines.”

First Read: “Here’s a thought exercise: Imagine what Obama’s presidency would have been like had Clinton stayed in the U.S. Senate. During the tough times (health care, the debt-ceiling debate), everyone would have looked for any kind of daylight between the two politicians, and Hillary potentially launching a primary challenge would have been a constant story, even if she had no plans on such a move. But what’s been extraordinary is how loyal Obama and Clinton have been to each other.”