Obama's five closest allies
With the announcement of Attorney General Eric Holders intention to resign earlier this week, President Obama is losing not just a key political ally, but one of the few personal friends in his inner circle.
The close relationship between the two men was evident for some time, vacationing together on Marthas Vineyard in the summers and spending down time with each others families back in Washington.
Holder, tearing up, told Obama that they had been great colleagues, but the bonds between us are much deeper than that.
In good times and in bad, in things personal and in things professional, you have been there for me, Holder continued. Im proud to call you my friend.
The rare partnership between the two allowed Holder greater latitude to pursue an ambitious civil rights agenda during his nearly six years helming the Justice Department. It also created the occasional headache in the West Wing, where staffers felt Holder had particular sway over and an exceedingly long leash from the president.
While its unlikely that the next attorney general will replicate that level of personal friendship with the president, Holder isnt totally unique in the presidents inner circle. Here are five other top Obama administration figures who share both a close personal and professional relationship with the president.
Arne Duncan
The president and his Education Secretary who, after Holders departure, will be one of just two original Cabinet secretaries remaining have a history reaching back to Chicago, where Duncan served as the citys school superintendent.
Duncan was a basketball standout at Harvard, where Obama attended law school, and both had ties to the University of Chicago. Obamas daughters attended the universitys prep school which Duncan graduated from before the president took office, and Duncans wife served as athletic director there.
But their friendship was solidified over pickup basketball games, including, most famously, when a team headed by Duncan squared off against one led by Obama on Election Day 2008.