“Most people expect that a Republican and Democrat couldn’t possibly get along in this day and age,” says George W. Bush. And yet, the former U.S. President shared, earlier this month, a sofa with his predecessor, Bill Clinton, to talk to TIME magazine’s Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy. The Bush-Clinton bond is tighter than expected, and it started with a private letter from George H. W. Bush left for Clinton as he took office. It read: “You will be our President when you read this note. I am rooting hard for you.” Bush 43 talks about how instructive that moment was: his father gracious in defeat, Clinton humble in victory. The actual family friendship began a decade later when the younger Bush sent Clinton and his father traveling the world to raise relief funds for victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami and then after Hurricane Katrina. Read the full story in this week’s issue of TIME magazine and find out how this photo, by Mark Seliger for TIME, was taken on lightbox.time.com. #bush #clinton #politics http://ift.tt/1LFKKjQ