EXCLUSIVE PIC: Clinton and Obama, in the Sandbox Again

Another busy day at the White House: First Lady Michelle Obama hosted students from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington, who helped her plant and water the brand-new White House garden [1]. She and Agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack spoke to the students about the healthy fruits and veggies that would grow there. “It’s all brain food,” Obama said. She cheered the kids for bringing good weather and then sent them (and the press) home with cookies.

The weather was so nice in fact, that, after President Obama received his economic briefing and met with Defense Secretary Robert Gates in the Oval Office, the POTUS and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton decided to hold their 4:15 meeting out behind the White House—next to the swing set [2] installed for the Obama girls in March.

Striding out from the West Wing, the two seemed thick as thieves—smiling, Secretary Clinton casually swung her leg over the bench on the east side of the playground, and the president grinned and waved to gawking reporters and staff as he sat down across from her. After all, it was just a year ago that Clinton could be seen crying, "Shame on you, Barack Obama [3]."

This is the first meeting of the two former rivals since Obama returned from Turkey and Iraq.

—DAYO OLOPADE

CLOSEUP PHOTO [4] after the jump.

clintonandobama3.JPG [5]