Sydney Blumenthal sent Clinton a memo on Sept. 30, 2009 with background information on John Kornblum, who at the time served as ambassador to Germany.

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“Kornblum strongly suggests you try to develop your personal relationship with Merkel as you can,” Blumenthal writes.

“He says she dislikes the atmospherics surrounding the Obama phenomenon, that it’s contrary to her whole idea of politics and how to conduct oneself in general. She would welcome a more conversational relationship with you.”

Obama had only been sworn into office eight months earlier. In July of 2008, Obama gave one of the most memorable speeches of his campaign to a crowd of over 100,000 who gathered to see him speak in Berlin.

The email was one of 5,500 the State Department released late in the afternoon on New Year’s Eve as part of a court-ordered mandated stemming from a Freedom of Information Act request.