In politics, one's friends and one's enemies are often the same.

In politics, one's friends and one's enemies are often the same.

Politics is a very dirty business in any country. It can be though of as a sport between politicians where they compete to be on top by representing the citizens who voted for them. Politics is filled with rivalry and criticism which can be beneficial or harmful depending on the situations In some cases political rivalries can exist in the same party or with an opposing party. However, what needs to be determined is who are the politicians friends or enemies and are they linked?

Firstly, consider when a politicians friends and enemies are the same. A classic example, would be in the 2008 US Presidential elections where Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton ran against each other in the primaries even though they were both Democratic contestants. Obama and Clinton had a fierce battles in the primaries and caucuses by attacking and criticizing one another on their approaches for issues that affect citizens. Although, both had same ideologies criticizing each other caused a bitter division in the Democratic party alone. One would probably think that this makes them enemies, but it's clear as well that in order for the party to be successful it would have to be united. However, in the final stages of his campaign, Barack Obama offered Hillary Clinton to be his Secretary of State. He had a very ambitious international agenda and trusted her enough to be the person to get the changes he was seeking accomplished. So, it is evident that rivalries can occur in the same party but it was temporary. As a result, the fierce competition between each other earlier showed that Clinton was capable of putting the Democratic party on the right path to reaching its goals.

On the other hand, political friends and enemies are not the same. Sometimes ideological divides between people  prevent them from being able to cooperate on certain issues. For instance, in the 2008 presidential elections Barack Obama and John McCain had a bitter rivalry in the election because of their contrasting ideologies and views on specific issues such as, abortion, stem cells, health care homosexuality in military, nuclear weapons, space exploration,  taxes and education. All these issues are critical in analysis of both rivals to see how divided they are and on what issues. In the case of health care reform,  Republicans universally voted against it. In contrast, democrats were going to vote against it, but when changes to the abortion part of the law were made, decided to vote for it. This shows that people with similar ideologies are more likely to try to cooperate with each other. Differences in ideology may make it clear what kind of political policies a politician will support.

All in all, politics is filled with competition and can be between the same party or opposing party. Friends in politics are not initially formed, because even people of the same party have differing viewpoints but with a common goal new friendships can be formed. On the other hand, enemies in politics remain as foes because they have opposing view points. Therefore, similarities or differences in ideology determines whether politicians are friends or enemies.