Come back, Clintons, all is forgiven. This seems to be Barack Obama's message as he draws up appointments for his administration — two thirds of which come from Bill Clinton's.

In a development unimaginable at the height of the primary battle, 31 of the 47 people so far appointed to the President-elect’s transition and White House teams have ties to the Clinton administration.

It is a departure from his rhetoric on the campaign trail — when he accused Mr Clinton of missed opportunities and partisan wrangling, and promised a new era in Washington politics.

None of Mr Obama’s first key appointments — all senior members of the Clinton administration — backed him in the primary contest.

John Podesta, the Transition chief who was Mr Clinton’s Chief-of-Staff, endorsed no one; neither did the incoming Chief-of-Staff, Rahm Emanuel, who was a top advisor to the former President.

Ron Klain, who will be Joe Biden’s Chief-of-Staff and who backed the vice-president-elect during the primary, performed the same role for Al Gore, who was Vice-President during the Clinton years.

And in what would be his greatest overture, Mr Obama may even be considering offering his former opponent the plum Cabinet post of Secretary-of-State.

Of the former Clinton officials appointed — including all but one of the 12 members of the Transition Advisory Board — most were not prominent figures but lower-level policy staff such as former Deputy Secretary of Defence John White and former State Department official Wendy Sherman. Some, such as Mr Emanuel, have long-standing ties to both men.

The appointments may disappoint some staunch supporters of Mr Obama who felt alienated by the Clintons’ primary tactics and later their lukewarm support for the nominee. Left-wingers may also be concerned that it signals a move away from the liberal campaign rhetoric of Mr Obama — particularly in the area of foreign policy, where Mrs Clinton is more hawkish than the Senator of Illinois.

One Clinton loyalist suggested, not without satisfaction, that the appointments show Mr Obama has taken on board a key message of Mrs Clinton’s campaign — that effecting real change requires experience.

However others have pointed out that with Mr Clinton the only Democratic president in almost three decades, it is almost impossible to find top Democratic operatives in Washington without ties to his administration.

Mr Obama is said to be determined not to repeat the former president’s early mistake of assembling an insular and inexperienced team unfamiliar with Washington politics.

"Obama is showing great good sense in making use of their experience," William Galston, a former Clinton domestic policy adviser who is now a fellow at the Brookings Institution, told Politico. "You have an entire cadre of people in their 30s and 40s and early 50s who were either in senior jobs or second- and third-tier jobs in the Clinton administration, who really earned their spurs and know their way around — and know something about how the institutions in which they served actually function."

Mr Galston played down the divisions that erupted in the Democratic party during the primary race, insisting that it was far more unified ideologically than it had been in the past. "It was never a substantive or an ideological split — it was more like Team A and Team B."

Clinton loyalists have noted however that Mr Obama’s newfound openness has its limits — largely being restricted to policy aides rather than members of the Clintons’ inner circle.

One former Clinton campaign aide told Politico: "Obama has clearly made a distinction between the small group of Clinton campaign staff, who clearly aren't much welcome, and the large number of Clinton White House personnel who are.”

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