If Hillary Clinton didn’t have the same last name as Bill, a casual observer could mistake them for business partners, not soul mates.

Hillary appeared on the Tavis Smiley Show Wednesday and Bill came up as a topic.

“I love Bill Clinton,” Smiley told her. “So do I,” she responded laughingly.

“I figured you would say that,” Smiley said. “I can’t imagine why anybody wouldn’t want him in their corner when they’re running for the White House and you’re fortunate to have him.

“But I wonder whether or not there’s any concern that down the road, in word or deed, he might become a distraction,” Smiley said.

“I don’t think so, Tavis,” she replied. “You know, he’s his own man, as we all know, but he is so committed to making sure that our country doesn’t veer off in the wrong direction which he clearly thinks the Republicans would take us.

“And he’s been very generous and loving in all of his comments about me and why he thinks I’m a change maker and what I can do for people. I consider him a hundred percent positive asset to my campaign,” Hillary said.

Her cold, distanced response may be a window into their relationship.

After all, it was Bill who made an eyebrow-raising comment about his wife before the New Hampshire primary earlier this month.

The Washington Examiner reported:

“The hotter this election gets, the more I wish I were just a former president and just for a few months not the spouse of the next one,” Clinton said in New Hampshire of his wife. “Because, you know, I have to be careful what I say.”

Clinton later repeated that line.

“Tonight my job is to introduce Hillary,” he said. “Sometimes when I’m on a stage like this, I wish we weren’t married. Then I could say what I really think.”

The paper notes the couple’s marriage “has become a topic of the 2016 White House race.”