The Obama-Clinton Feud Lives

In January 2008, Obama jabbed back during a debate when he damned his opponent with faint praise. When the moderator asked Clinton whether she had the personal appeal to win over voters, Obama interjected: "You're likable enough, Hillary."

Obama lost New Hampshire to Clinton, but he won Iowa and South Carolina. It was in the Palmetto State that things got nasty again when Bill Clinton, who remains fluent in his native dialect of white Southerner, played the race card by implying that white voters wouldn't vote for Obama. After the primary, Clinton took a parting shot by comparing the Illinois senator to Jesse Jackson, who, Clinton reminded everyone, also won in South Carolina during his 1984 and 1988 presidential bids.

And who could forget Ohio, where Hillary Clinton lashed out angrily at Obama because of campaign mailings that she claimed were "blatantly false" in stating her positions on universal health care and the North American Free Trade Agreement? "Shame on you, Barack Obama," she scolded. Clinton won the Buckeye State.

And on it went, until the bitter end, when Obama won the party's nomination and eventually the presidency.

After all that toxicity, we're expected to believe that the families let bygones be bygones and, since then, everyone has gotten along splendidly.

I have another theory. I think that Hillary Clinton never got over her defeat. And once she became secretary of state, she refused to yield to Obama's authority. So when he issued Executive Order 13526, governing the handling of classified material -- which made clear that any email regarding foreign governments should automatically be treated as classified, whether or not it was marked that way -- she defied it.

The president is now well aware of her insubordination, and he's probably not happy about it. Meanwhile, Clinton's old emails will continue to be released. It's death by a thousand bytes.

Democratic strategist James Carville has it right. When running for office, Carville advises, don't get mad and don't get even. Just get elected. Then get even.

Eight years ago, Barack Obama was not treated well by the Clintons. Now he may be getting even.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com.