Bill Clinton unloads on Obama!

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/bill_blockbuster_an_amateur_XJHYdaV5LT1vpr5I39IKrN

Bill blockbuster: O’s an ‘amateur’

By CARL CAMPANILE

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/nation..._amateur_XJHYdaV5LT1vpr5I39IKrN#ixzz1uZhzwTHC

Bill Clinton thought so little of President Obama — mocking him as an “amateur” — that he pressed his wife last summer to quit her job as secretary of state and challenge him in the primaries, a new book claims,

“The country needs you!” the former president told Hillary Clinton, urging her to run this year, according to accounts of the conversation included in Edward Klein’s new biography of Obama.

The title of Klein’s explosive, unauthorized bio of Obama, “The Amateur” (Regnery Publishing), was taken directly from Bill Clinton’s bombshell criticism of the president, the author said.

“Barack Obama,” Bill Clinton said, according to book excerpts, “is an amateur.”

The withering criticism is incredible, given the fact that Bill Clinton is actively campaigning for Obama’s re-election.

But according to the book, Bill Clinton unloaded on Obama and pressed Hillary to run against her boss during a gathering in the ex-president’s home office in Chappaqua last August that included longtime friends, Klein said.

“The economy’s a mess, it’s dead flat. America has lost its Triple-A rating . . . You know better than Obama does,” Bill said.

Bill Clinton insisted he had “no relationship” with Obama and had been consulted more frequently by his presidential successor, George W. Bush.

Obama, Bill Clinton said, “doesn’t know how to be president” and is “incompetent.”

But Hillary resisted the entreaties, according to two of the guests interviewed for the book.

“Why risk everything now?” a skeptical Hillary told her husband, emphasizing that she wanted to leave a legacy as secretary of state.

“Because,” Bill replied, his voice rising, “the country needs you!”

“The country needs us!” added Bill.

He later even joked about the prospect of having two Clinton presidential libraries — about the only time that Hillary cracked a smile.

“I want my term [at the State Department] to be an important one, and running away from it now would leave it as a footnote,” Hillary argued.

She said she had the option of running again in 2016.

But Bill wouldn’t let go.

“I know you’re young enough!” Bill said, his voice booming. “That’s not what I’m worried about. I’m worried that I’m not young enough.”

“I’m the highest-ranking member in Obama’s Cabinet. I eat breakfast with the guy every Thursday morning. What about loyalty, Bill? What about loyalty?” she responded.

“Loyalty is a joke,’’ Bill shot back. “Loyalty doesn’t exist in politics.”

Bill’s verbal battle with Hillary over the presidency, if anything, intensified when daughter Chelsea showed up with her husband, Marc Mezvinsky.

“You deserve to be president,” Chelsea said.

Bill was clearly pleased that Chelsea was on his side and vowed to have allies commission polls on a Hillary-Obama matchup.

“What are you trying to do — force my hand?” Hillary said.

“I want everyone to know how strong you poll,” Bill said.

Hillary said, “Go ahead and knock yourself out.”

The book’s explosive claims were shot down last night by spokesmen for the White House and the Clintons, who closed ranks last night.

Bill Clinton’s spokesman Matt McKenna said the excerpts were “totally and completely false” and called Klein “a known liar.”

Phillipe Reines, a spokesman for the secretary of state, noted that Hillary Clinton challenged the veracity of an earlier book Klein wrote about her, “Truth About Hillary.”

White House spokesman Eric Schultz accused Klein of making up facts to sell books.

“Nobody in their right mind would believe the nonsense in this one, especially since both Secretary Clinton and President Clinton have been loyal and supportive of the president at every turn.”

Klein, a former editor of The New York Times Magazine and Newsweek, defended the book and his earlier one as factually sound.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/nation..._amateur_XJHYdaV5LT1vpr5I39IKrN#ixzz1uZiPidNE

 

In short, Hillary chose Obama over her husband.

 

I guess, but pretty damning critique from one of our more popular presidents no?

 

I expected something a bit more scandalous with a title like "Bill Clinton unloads on Obama!"

 

It will be interesting to see how the various players respond to this accounting of events. Meanwhile, it's nice to see that you apparently value Bill Clinton's opinion. Has it always been this way?

 

Absolutely. I think Bill is a great politician with many personal flaws. The guy knows government inside and out and has great leadership qualities. Unfortunately he was easily corruptible. I would take Clinton over Obama any day. I would take his wife over Obama any day. I consider Bill one of the better democratic presidents. In a way, many similarities between Bill and Jack Kennedy. I liked them both.

 

Bill is a competitor, and a pure politician which is what accounts for his star power.

He knows it's Christie in 2016. He was trying one last ditch attempt at a coup.

Not to mention Obama played some dirty pool with him back in 08.

I totally understand Bill's position. This ain't business, it's personal.

 

It's not a gotcha moment, lots of us would like a more forceful Obama, and you'd be even more unhappy.

 

I posted my analysis a long time ago- Obama is an empty suit absorbed with style. A high school pothead that affirmative actioned his way to Harvard and used his one gift to grab a presidency during the crisis- he can read speeches well enough to make some people piss in their slacks (Chris Matthews).

 

Again, it will be interesting to see what the people involved have to say, since Edward Klein's work is not without controversy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Klein

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/10/AR2005071001187.html

Remember, this is the guy who wrote The Truth About Hillary:

Not for nothing have hardcore conservatives like Peggy Noonan been pushing this nasty piece of work away with a 10-foot pole. Pretending to be a principled takedown of a treacherous woman, "The Truth About Hillary" traffics in so much sleaze -- almost all previously reported, most long-ago debunked -- that any self-respecting critic of Hillary Rodham Clinton would be rightly embarrassed to be associated with it.

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117927674