Blood Feud: The Clintons vs. the Obamas by Edward Klein Read Free Book Online

decision or comment that draws public criticism, she gives him a withering stare and storms out of the room, ignoring his calls after her. She has never forgiven him for giving the State Department to Hillary, and she blames every bad thing that happens in the world on Hillary’s incompetence. Michelle has refused to invite Bill and Hillary to dinner in the White House. She doesn’t want anything to do with them.
    “When Michelle and Barack are fighting, everyone in the White House is aware of it and walks on eggs. When Michelle is angry, she is apt to exile staffers who annoy her. She fired one whom she said gave her a headache every time she saw her. She fired another for just looking at Barack too often.
    “Michelle is obsessed with jealousy over Barack. She thinks he would like to be a ladies’ man like JFK, and she knows that movie stars throw themselves at him whenever they get a chance. Michelle pulls tricks like bursting in on meetings with women to see if she can catch Barack in a compromising position. Women, even at a fairly high level, know better than to give Michelle any reason to suspect them of trying to get friendly with him. It’s suicide if Barack shows affection to you.
    “When Michelle is on the prowl in the West Wing or East Wing, staffers warn their friends, relaying what corridors she is headed for, so they can run in the other direction, or slip into the ladies’ room, or even a supply closet. The reason is, if she sees you, she might come up with some awful task, or she might just berate you for not being at your desk.
    “Barack gets so fed up with her behavior that he actually encourages Michelle to take separate planes when they go on vacation, so he doesn’t have to fly with her. And he even persuaded her to take her own vacations without him, and allow him to go off on a men’s-only vacation of his own.”

    Valerie Jarrett played an indispensable role in the Obama marriage. As the first lady’s best friend, Jarrett was in a unique position to mediate the relationship between Barack and Michelle. Jarrett acted as a buffer, smoothing things over and advising each marriage partner how to get along with the other. It was a marriage that needed constant buttressing, and whenBarack and Michelle were fighting, Valerie shuttled back and forth between them, carrying messages.
    She was the third member in the marriage. And at times, that made things even more complicated.
    “There is a certain amount of palace intrigue even between Valerie and Michelle,” said a woman who worked for Oprah Winfrey and had frequent dealings with both Valerie and Michelle. “They don’t completely trust each other. When Valerie is shuttling back and forth between the Obamas during their frequent fights, she doesn’t try to salve the wounds and bring them together. She relishes their fights, because it gives her more power when they are at odds.
    “Valerie and Michelle have spies in each other’s camp to make sure one isn’t trying to shaft the other,” this woman continued. “They are very suspicious of each other even though they have an amazingly close collaboration. The stakes are just so outrageously high.
    “But Michelle could never push Valerie out, even if they had a huge falling-out, because she knows too many secrets and where too many bodies are buried. Oprah says that Barack is incredibly agile and smart at the way he plays the two women off each other to get his way. It’s a game of chess, and all three are masters.”
    Jarrett developed certain methods to calm the Obamas before their disputes turned too ugly. At times when Barack was so tense that he was visibly shaking, Jarrett would lead him out onto the Truman Balcony and talk to him while he smoked a cigarette. Other times she would sit on Michelle’s bed and listen to her grief, fears, and frustrations. She explained to Sasha and Malia what tremendous pressure their parents were under.
    Jarrett carries two BlackBerry devices with her