Getting tips for her 2016 run? Obama hosts Hillary Clinton at private White House lunch



Don't look now, but the Campaigner-in-Chief is about to engage in the 2016 White House race.

President Barack Obama will host former first lady, senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for lunch in his private White House dining room on Monday. Reporters are not welcome.

The administration announced the lunch on the president's schedule Sunday. 'In the afternoon, the President and former Secretary Clinton will meet for lunch in the private dining room.,' a daily email to journalists read. 'This lunch is closed press.'

The White House tweeted this photo of President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sharing lunch on Monday with the caption 'Grabbing a bite with @HillaryClinton'

The White House did not respond to a request for comment about what the president and Mrs. Clinton will discuss at lunch. Two different White House aides hung up on MailOnline when asked for a background comment about the agenda.

Principal Deputy White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said during his press briefing Monday that 'i t’s largely friendship that’s on the agenda today,' adding that the lunch will only involve the president and Mrs. Clinton. 'It is my understanding that the table is being set for two,' he said.



Clinton lost the Democratic presidential nomination to Obama in 2008, but her early poll numbers far outstrip those of fellow Democrats. If she runs, those surveys suggest, she would be a runaway favorite.

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 29: Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leaves the White House on July 29, 2013 in Washington, DC. Clinton was scheduled to meet U.S. President Barack Obama for lunch. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Lunch date: Obama and Clinton will meet Monday for a private lunch, during which the 2016 campaign is likely to be on the menu

Hillary's handmaiden: Huma Abedin (R), the wife of New York City mayoral candidate and former congressman Anthony Weiner (L), is a new source of scandal that might make Clinton's 2016 climb steeper

NBC and Hollywood, both of which typically lean left, are already laying groundwork.

A four-episode miniseries about the former first lady is set to debut on NBC during the 2016 election season. And a theatrical version of her life story - also likely to be a positive portrayal - is slated for 2016.

But her electability in a general election is unclear, given the baggage she would carry related to the Benghazi terror attack in 2012.

In a much-maligned exchange during a January hearing, Clinton sparred with Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson over whether the military-style assault on the U.S. Consulate in that Eastern Libyan city was the result of terrorism or an outgrowth of a spontaneous protest, as the administration initially claimed.

'What difference, at this point, does it make?' she asked.



That line is sure to become a Republican rallying cry is Clinton is the Democrats' nominee three years from now.

Still standing by her man: Despite a history of marital infidelity, former President Bill Clinton enjoys public support from his wife, confounding some feminist leaders but seldom bringing them to oppose her

Four Americans including former Navy SEALs Glen Doherty (L) and Ty Woods (R) were killed in Benghazi along with another security guard and the U.S. ambassador to Libya. Clinton has borne the brunt of blame for failing to recognize the need to better protect embassies and consular offices

Were she the general election candidate, she would also likely face a barrage of ads from Republicans who are critical of her performance as Secretary of State. Security at the Benghazi compound, and at others in the Arab world, was lax in the days preceding the Sept. 11 attack. GOP partisans have slammed her for failing to prepare her diplomatic facilities in the face of an anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in 2001.



Benghazi aside, she first must weather the storm created by former Rep. Anthony Weiner's sexting scandals in his run for New York City mayor. Mrs. Clinton figures in the furor more than anyone other than Weiner himself.

Huma Abedin, Weiner's wife and a former top aide to Mrs. Clinton, is standing by her husband, much as she herself did when her husband was impeached over claims that he lied while under oath about an affair he carried on with a White House intern.

That parallel, along with new questions about a sweetheart deal the State Department arranged for Abedin - which allows her to collect a second income from a private company while keeping much of her State Department salary - has made the Clintons furious to be dragged along with the Weiners' dirty laundry, reports NBC News .

Obama's Dojo: Hillary Clinton's private lunch with the president could become a strategy session focusing on how Obama beat her in 2008, and how she can repeat the feat against fellow Democrats in 2016

Obama's own coattails are shortening this year, with Gallup's daily tracking poll now showing more Americans disapprove of him than approve, in a 46-47 per cent split. Much of that turnaround from his 58-36 positive high water mark as a political juggernaut in December can be traced to the coming Obamacare enrollment deadlines. The president's signature health care plan is increasingly unpopular across nearly all demographic groups.

But Clinton may still weather the storm unless she is tied to scandals that arrive closer to the 2016 election. She is increasingly popular among women voters, and already has a campaign organization building on its own.

Jeremy Bird, Obama's re-election field director, and Mitch Stewart, an insider who managed his campaign in critical swing states, joined a 'Ready for Hillary' super PAC that serves as a placeholder that she could leverage on day one, should she choose to run.