Blood Feud: The Clintons vs. the Obamas by Edward Klein

In the recent democratic presidential nominations, one could see that Obama came to support Hillary only after she had won the presidential nomination. One also wonders would Obama have supported Hillary the way he does now had it not been for Trump's vitriolic speeches on Obama and his administration. I guess in Obama's mind he had to choose the lesser evil. 

As an outsider to American politics, I had no inclination of the animosity between the Obamas and the Clintons. It all started back in 2008, when both camps attacked each other bitterly over the presidential nomination. Bill, the playboy, master politician, had his eyes set on the prize; he would rule the office through proxy; of course his wife was her own man/woman. She would bitterly fight her husband for control, along with being a feminist she was also ambitious, she wanted to be the first female president of the USA. She had spent plenty of time as a senator and fought through the shame of Bill's indiscretions, but before this family tussle could ensue, enter a charming community organizer who was supported by the left wing of the Democratic Party. Obama defeated Hillary and Bill, not without having virulent exchanges. Bill called Obama another Black candidate and Obama called Bill a racist. In the end Obama came out on top, defeating the most powerful couple on the planet. Obama had ample support from her wife Michelle,"who wore the pants in the family". Another X factor is Obama's camp was Valerie Jarrett the woman who ran his campaign and was most close to not just Barack but she was/is best friends with Michelle. Valarie during Obama's 8 years in office virtually ran his government. The centrists in Obama's camp knew that Clintons were too powerful to be kept out of government and that it will be difficult to run the govt without them, they wanted Hillary as Secretary of State. Michelle and Valerie fought this idea tooth and nail. In the end Barack made Hillary Secretary of State. It was like having Kejriwal as PM and Modi as Dy. PM

Obama was an amateur, he had no experience. He was too much of an idealist and was trapped in illusions of grandeur and vanity. He fought with the republicans, he fought with the democrats, he fought with Clintons. His policies in middle east allowed ISIS to run rampant in those parts. Hillary was a hawk and an alpha female. She was not taking this lying down, she confronted Obama on various occasions, at one instance right in the middle of the oval office after a heated exchange she poked her finger twice in the chest of the president of the USA just to prove a point. Obama recited this tale to his wife, who was furious with Hillary. Obama struck back later by having Hillary take the blame for the Benghazi debacle. Hillary on TV admitted that Benghazi was not a planned terror attack but a random act of violence perpetrated by Islamic zealots who were offended by a derogatory video of the prophet Mohammed of Islam. This was in time proved to be a lie, Bill admonished Hillary for lying and this incident still comes back to bite the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016.  

In 2012, Obama knew that he was going to lose the re-election. Again, the cooler heads in the Obama camp urged him to mend bridges with the Clintons and asked him to reach out to Bill. Bill the wily politician, had an uncanny knack of connecting with his audiences and charm them to voting booths. Obama and Bill struck a deal, Bill would endorse Obama and in return Obama would help Hillary get reelected in 2016. Michelle and the super chief of staff Valarie hated this deal, Valarie told Obama that after election he could always back out from the deal. He would get the presidency and then he does not owe anyone anything. This has been another problem during the Obamas reign, they have never returned favors and once they grabbed power they never looked out for their supporters. Oprah who was an ardent Obama supporter was also dumped by the Obama camp, when they needed her support again in 2012 she decided to dump them.

Bill did endorse Obama in a close election and Obama managed to get the hot seat again. The US presidency is as much a game of personalities as it is of power and ideology. The feud between the Obamas and Clintons is one of power and ego. Barack feels a sense of destiny and does not want to give up control over the democratic party, Michelle and Valerie know that through Obama they can control the democrats and implement their left agenda, on the other hand Bill feels like last 8 years have been an aberration and he want to control the white house through his wife and implement his own policies. Hillary knows that if she gets elected Bill would want to rule through proxy, but she will never allow it! 

The similarities between the TV show House of Cards and the Clintons is striking. If you have not seen it please do check it out on Netflix. fyip - Guess what is the name of Bill's right hand guy? Doug!

Fascinating piece of work, I read the entire book in one sitting. Engrossing and full of 'Masala'. Even if half of the things in this book is true(author does not reveal his sources) we have much more entertainment to look forward to during the Clinton reign.