<table> </table> U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver may have come to the presidential race with Sen. Hillary Clinton. However, he&#8217;s leaving the contest with Sen. Barack Obama.</p><p>As people know, Cleaver came out early during the presidential campaign in support of Clinton&#8217;s quest. After all, Cleaver was a close friend of her husband, former President Bill Clinton.</p><p>And as the campaign rolled along, like two soldiers in a foxhole, Sen. Clinton grew close to Cleaver, calling him her minister and relying on his counsel from time to time.</p><p>Now that Obama is the Democratic nominee for president, Cleaver has made what he calls a &#8220;seamless transition&#8221; to support Obama. In fact, the two men spoke a couple of weeks ago in Washington.</p><p>&#8220;I told him that I was committed to his campaign,&#8221; Cleaver said. &#8220;And I am. I&#8217;m going to work as hard as I can.&#8221;</p><p>Cleaver already has been asked to make several appearances on Obama&#8217;s behalf in this area, and Cleaver thinks Obama understands his earlier decision to support Clinton.</p><p>Cleaver knew the issue of his endorsement would work itself out when he ran into Obama in Washington shortly after the Democratic nomination was locked up. When he saw a crowd gathered around Obama congratulating him, Cleaver gave Obama a thumbs-up from across the room.</p><p>&#8220;He did the same thing back,&#8221; Cleaver said. &#8220;We knew we were going to be together. So it&#8217;s no big deal. And I&#8217;ve never not supported the Democratic nominee since I&#8217;ve been an adult. It was a seamless transition from Clinton to Barack.&#8221;</p><p>Even so, Cleaver did so with Clinton&#8217;s blessing.</p><p>&#8220;Frankly, Senator Clinton told me this is what she wanted me to do,&#8221; Cleaver said. &#8220;She will not allow people to say anything negative about Obama around her.&#8221;</p><p>Cleaver noted an event at Clinton&#8217;s house in Washington four weeks ago that was attended by about 100 campaign supporters. When people came up to Clinton and started saying something disparaging about Obama, Clinton put her finger to her lips to silence them.</p><p>&#8220;She would not let anybody say anything negative about Obama at her house,&#8221; Cleaver recalled.</p><p>Clinton also called him a couple of weeks ago, Cleaver said.</p><p>&#8220;She said, &#8216;Is this my pastor?&#8217;&#8194;&#8221; Cleaver recalled.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m just calling to tell you &#8216;thank you&#8217; again,&#8221; Clinton said. &#8220;And is there anything I can do for you?&#8221;</p><p>Cleaver read his laundry list.</p><p>&#8220;I told her I want her to be the number one member of the U.S. Senate,&#8221; Cleaver recalled. &#8220;I told her I want her to get our legislation from the House through the Senate. She started laughing because the Senate is where all legislation goes to die.&#8221;</p><p>Clinton&#8217;s sense of loyalty toward Obama is exactly why Cleaver has remained loyal to her. Cleaver also doesn&#8217;t want his friend to get caught up in the vice presidential sweepstakes. And he has advised her as much.</p><p>&#8220;I told her that I didn&#8217;t think that title fit her,&#8221; Cleaver said. &#8220;She&#8217;s too independent.&#8221;</p><p>As a result of his endorsement, Cleaver won&#8217;t play a major role at the Democratic convention. He&#8217;s not part of Obama&#8217;s inner circle right now.</p><p>Even so, Cleaver displayed solid loyalty &#8212; a principled stance that Obama shouldn&#8217;t hold against him. Loyalty is a trait in short supply in politics these days.</p><p>Cleaver plans to do what he can to help Obama win Missouri in November. How all that turns out will have a lot to do with how soon we see thumbs-up signs flash again between Obama and Cleaver.