1. Valerie Jarrett runs the White House
White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett listens
as President Barack Obama speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House in
Washington, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014, during a meeting with foundation and
business leaders. The president was to discuss his “My Brother’s Keeper”
initiative to expand opportunity for minority boys and young men. (AP
Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett listens
as President Barack Obama speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House in
Washington, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014, during a meeting with foundation and
business leaders. (Image Source: AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
While followers of the White House are aware of
Jarrett’s sway as the president’s closest consigliere, the extent of this
closeness is somewhat staggering based on “Blood Feud.” Klein writes that
Jarrett was more powerful than Rahm Emanuel and William Daley, the president’s
first chiefs of staff — in fact according to Klein she is the most powerful
presidential adviser since Harry Hopkins of FDR’s White House. Jarrett is so
close to the Obamas that she reportedly “moved permanently into a room in the
family’s private quarters, referred to by the White House staff as “the
Residence.”
Jarrett also serves as the key go-between between
the president and his wife on all matter of issues, from the political to the
personal. Jarrett apparently would help run any Michelle Obama campaign, and
has repeatedly pushed her to seriously consider such a run for the Senate seat
held by Mark Kirk in Illinois.
As for the here and now, Jarrett has power that
reaches “into the remotest corners of the federal government,” and also plays a
key role in promulgating American foreign policy (see no. 3).”
2. Hillary attempted to physically intimidate Obama
as Secretary of State
Klein writes that Michelle Obama and Valerie
Jarrett both opposed Hillary Clinton’s nomination as Secretary of State. This
was perhaps with good reason if one episode that Klein describes is any
indication:
“Some of Hillary’s arguments with the president
actually turned physical. Once, according to a source close to Valerie Jarrett,
Hillary jabbed Obama’s chest with her finger to make a point. When Obama
reported the finger-jabbing incident to Michelle, he said that he couldn’t
believe Hillary had done that to the president of the United States. He was
more amazed than angry about the impulsive attack.”
3. Bill Clinton commissioned (and threatened to
leak) a poll prior to the 2012 election that would have shown Hillary Clinton
to be more popular than the president, and potentially led to a challenge to
his nomination
Former President Bill Clinton addresses the
Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012.
(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Former President Bill Clinton addresses the
Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012.
(Image source: AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Prior to the 2012 election, David Plouffe, one of
President Obama’s key political advisors, suggested that Obama court Bill
Clinton for support as a means of solidifying voting blocs deemed crucial to
Obama’s reelection — namely “African Americans, Hispanics, single women, young
people, government workers, gays and lesbians, and educated professionals…[who]
all loved Bill Clinton.”
While Valerie Jarrett counseled against such a
move, David Plouffe insisted upon it:
“The word was that Hillary didn’t want to risk…a
run against a sitting president of her own party, but that Bill had
commissioned a secret poll in which likely Democratic voters were asked whom
they preferred–Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Bill was thinking of leaking
the results of the poll, which showed that Hillary was far more popular among
rank-and-file Democrats than Obama. “We could blow this whole thing by keeping
Clinton at arm’s length,” Plouffe warned Obama.”
We could blow this whole thing by keeping Clinton
at arm’s length
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Of course Plouffe ultimately won out, with Clinton
grudgingly providing his support during the election.
4. America’s foreign policy is run by…David
Axelrod, John Brennan and Valerie Jarrett?
51GMqv8vJYL
Featured Book
Title: Blood Feud: The Clintons vs. the Obamas
Author: Edward Klein
Purchase this book
While Hillary Clinton was running the State
Department, perhaps unsurprisingly she was not calling the shots on foreign
policy according to Klein.
Vali Reza Nasr, dean of the John Hopkins School of
Advanced International Studies who served under diplomat Richard Holbrooke at
State and “had a front-row seat to the turf battles between the Obama White
House and Hillary Clinton” told Klein:
“‘Obama’s three most important foreign policy
advisers were David Axelrod, Valerie Jarrett, and John Brennan, deputy national
security adviser for homeland security and counterterrorism [Brennnan has since
been appointed director of the CIA]. Obama put Brennan in charge of drones and
fighting terrorists, the two prongs of Obama’s wartime foreign policy
initiatives. Whenever Hillary went on a trip to, say, Saudi Arabia, Brennan
would go along, and the Saudis treated him as the person who really mattered,
not Hillary. Ultimately, John Brennan made Middle East policy. Axelrod and
Jarrett made other policies, in other parts of the world. These three
people–Brennan, Axelrod, and Jarrett–were the ones calling the shots. It was
they who decided we should surge in Afghanistan or the direction of our
Pakistan policy. Not the State Department, and not Hillary.”
5. The Obamas plan to build a political dynasty
US First Lady Michelle Obama speaks at Orr
Elementary during a 'Let's Move!Active Schools' event in Washington, DC,
September 6, 2013. Credit: AFP/Getty Images
US First Lady Michelle Obama speaks at Orr
Elementary during a ‘Let’s Move!Active Schools’ event in Washington, DC,
September 6, 2013. (Image Source: AFP/Getty Images)
For those who think the Obamas are simply going to
go off into the Hawaii sunset at the conclusion of the president’s second term,
think again.
In addition to Michelle Obama apparently
considering a run for the U.S. Senate in Illinois, the Obama’s have broader
aspirations:
“‘Michelle and Valerie are preparing her legacy as
well as Barack’s,’ Jarrett’s friend said. ‘Child health, care of veterans and
the environment are just a start. They would like to have friendly Congress
members put her name on bills that would give her a record of legislative
achievement to run on. They are pushing for even larger staffs. Barack lets
them do whatever they want. He is completely supportive of Michelle’s
ambitions. He definitely wants a dynasty. Everybody around them understands
that. That’s the goal. They intend to have power for years to come.’”
[Obama] definitely wants a dynasty…That’s the goal.
They intend to have power for years to come.
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According to the book, the Clintons have similar
ideas in terms of overtaking the Democratic Party and running it for years to
come.
6. Hillary resisted the Obama line on Benghazi
An armed man waves his rifle as buildings and cars
are engulfed in flames after being set on fire inside the US consulate compound
in Benghazi late on September 11, 2012. An armed mob protesting over a film
they said offended Islam, attacked the US consulate in Benghazi and set fire to
the building, killing one American, witnesses and officials said.Credit:
AFP/Getty Images
An armed man waves his rifle as buildings and cars
are engulfed in flames after being set on fire inside the US consulate compound
in Benghazi late on September 11, 2012. (Image Source: AFP/Getty Images)
Klein writes that Hillary Clinton
“‘was stunned when she heard the president talk
about the Benghazi attack,’ according to a member of her team of legal advisers
who was interviewed for this book. ‘Obama wanted her to say that the attack had
been a spontaneous demonstration triggered by an obscure video…Hillary told
Obama, ‘Mr. President, that story isn’t credible; among other things, it
ignores the fact that the attack occurred on 9/11.’ But the president was
adamant. He said, ‘Hillary, I need you to put out a State Department release as
soon as possible.’”
Bill and Hillary then apparently played out various
scenarios, including Hillary potentially resigning over what had occurred. They
ruled this out however in part because her State Department was providing cover
for the CIA in terms of what operations were taking place in Benghazi, in
addition to the fact that her resignation could hurt Obama’s chances for
reelection which might destroy Hillary’s own political future.
7. Obama stabbed the Clintons in the back for 2016
(AP)
(Image Source: AP)
Subsequent to the 2012 election, Bill Clinton
followed up with President Obama on the deal they had made in which Bill would
help Obama get reelected, while theoretically Obama would for one thing place
Clinton’s handpicked political allies in the DNC — including replacing Debbie
Wasserman-Schultz as its chair. Obama did not follow through. And in a
post-election phone call, the following occurred according to Klein:
“‘Obama cut right to the chase,’ Clinton’s
associate continued. ‘He said he wasn’t prepared to turn over his campaign’s
digital operations, data mining, and social media juggernaut to the Clintons.
Instead, he said he was going to fold that operation into Organization for
Action, his second-term political pressure group. Hillary would have to build
her own data and analytics system. Bill listened, said, ‘Okay,’ and let it go
at that.
‘Then Obama said it was too early to make a
decision about 2016 and who he was going to support of the Democratic Party
nomination. He wasn’t prepared to back Hillary now. He was keeping his options
open. He was reneging on his promise.
‘Bill’s blood began to boil. He was speechless with
rage.
‘Then Obama mentioned Benghazi in kind of a vague,
confusing way that led Bill to believe that the White House was going to dump
political and legal blame for the mess on Hillary.
‘At that point, Obama stopped talking and waited
for Bill’s reaction. But Bill just laughed sarcastically at Obama and hung up
the phone.
‘Hillary said later that she found him in his office
with his head cradled in his hands.’”
8. What really happened when Hillary initially
postponed testifying on Benghazi
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. (Getty
Images)
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. (Image
Source: Getty Images)
While many questioned if Hillary fell ill prior to
the Benghazi hearings in 2013, Klein reveals that:
“The true story of what happened to Hillary, was
radically different from [Hillary's personal spokesman Phillipe] Reines’s
version [that Hillary had a stomach virus and was dehydrated].
…Hillary fainted while she was working in her
seventh-floor office at the State Department, not at home, as Reines told the
media. She was treated at the State Department’s infirmary and then, at her own
insistence, taken to Whitehaven to recover. However, as soon as Bill appeared
on the scene and was able to assess Hillary’s condition for himself, he ordered
that she be immediately flown to New York-Presbyterian Hospital in…Manhattan.
When Reines subsequently released a statement confirming that Hillary was being
treated…it naturally intensified speculation about the seriousness of her
medical condition.
While she was at the hospital, doctors diagnosed
Hillary with several problems.
She had a right transverse venous thrombosis, or a
blood clot between her brain and skull…
To make matters worse, it turned out that Hillary had
an intrinsic tendency to form clots and faint [Klein goes on to recount several
other past fainting spells].
…According to a source close to Hillary, a thorough
medical examination revealed that Hillary’s tendency to form clots was the
least of her problems…Put into layman’s language, her heart valves were not
pumping in a steady way.”
9. Who Obama is going to hand-select for 2016
He’s convinced…that he’s been a brilliant
president, and he wants…to find his Mini-Me.
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According to a party guest who provided Klein with
a reconstruction of a conversation between Hillary, Bill and Chelsea, beginning
with Chelsea asking if Obama was going to back Vice President Biden in 2016:
“‘It’s going to be a dogfight,’ replied Bill, who
had already begun assembling opposition research on Biden. “I’m absolutely
convinced that the Obamas have no intention of supporting your mother. It could
be that they’ll get behind [John] Kerry or Biden. But, you know, we’re smarter
than Biden and the rest of them. If Old Joe comes at us, we’ll clean the floor
with him.”
…”Recently, I’ve heard a different scenario from
state committeemen about the Obama’s preference in ’16,” Bill continued. ‘They
say he’s looking around for a candidate who’s just like him. Someone relatively
unknown. Someone with a fresh face. He’s convinced himself that he’s been a
brilliant president, and he wants to clone himself–to find his Mini-Me. He’s
hunting for someone to succeed him, and he believes the American people don’t
want to vote for someone who’s been around for a long time. He thinks that your
mother and I are what he calls ‘so twentieth century.’ He’s looking for another
Barack Obama.’”
10. Bill Clinton is penning political playbooks for
Hillary in the event he is indisposed during the 2016 presidential race; if his
health truly fails, Bill wants Hillary to capitalize on his funeral
Former President Bill Clinton, left, listens as
former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks during a student
conference for the Clinton Global Initiative University, Saturday, March 22,
2014, at Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz. More than 1,000 college
students are gathered at Arizona State University this weekend as part of the
Clinton Global Initiative University's efforts to advance solutions to pressing
world challenges. (AP Photo/Matt York) AP Photo/Matt York
Former President Bill Clinton, left, listens as
former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks during a student
conference for the Clinton Global Initiative University, Saturday, March 22,
2014, at Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz. More than 1,000 college
students are gathered at Arizona State University this weekend as part of the
Clinton Global Initiative University’s efforts to advance solutions to pressing
world challenges. (Image Source: AP Photo/Matt York)
According to Klein, Bill and Hillary are on their
way to raising over a billion dollars in advance of 2016. But in addition to
their war chest and poaching much of the Obama team, from Jim Messina to the
leaders of Obama’s 2012 field operation — Jeremy Bird and Mitch Stewart — and
Buffy Wicks, “a highly regarded get-out-the-vote specialist,” Bill is also
working on strategy.
Klein writes that Bill
“was writing what he called “playbooks”–thick
notebooks outlining positions for Hillary to take on the major issues of the
day–everything from immigration reform to gun control and education. He had
also been ordering up opposition
research on Hillary’s likely Republican opponents. He felt strongly that
Hillary was going to have to distance herself from Barack Obama and his
amateurish handling of domestic and foreign policy.
‘We’ve got to list all the situations that Obama’s
screwed up. Benghazi, the IRS, healthcare, you name it. We’ve got to explain,’
he said, looking over at Hillary, ‘how you would do everything different and
better. It has to be made crystal clear that you understand Obama’s mistakes
and would never have made them yourself.’”
And as for capitalizing on a funeral should Bill’s
health fail, in one of the more sensational charges in the book, Klein writes
that Bill told Hillary:
“‘Obviously, you have to have a big state funeral
for me, with as much pomp and circumstance as possible,’ he said. ‘I’m thinking
maybe I should be buried at Arlington [National Cemetery] rather than at my
library in Little Rock…Wear your widow’s weeds, so people will feel sympathy
for you. Wear black for a decent mourning period and make my death an asset.
The images on television of the funeral and the grieving widow in black will be
priceless…you’ll have to take maximum advantage of my death…It should be worth
a couple of million votes, he said.’”
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