Unlikeable by Edward Klein Read Free Book Online

burning. And, most famously of all, she voted in favor of the Iraq war in 2002 (when it was popular) before she voted against it in 2007 (when it wasn’t).
    â€œHillary told [Obama] that her opposition to the [2007] surge in Iraq had been political,” an appalled Robert Gates, the former secretary of defense, wrote in his memoir, Duty .
    In 2008, a stiff and charmless Hillary was pitted against a loose and charismatic newcomer named Barack Hussein Obama for their party’s presidential nomination. Her epic battle against Obama in Iowa and New Hampshire brought the issue of her unlikeability out of the shadows of confidential campaign memos and closed-door focus groups and to widespread public attention.

CHAPTER 7 CHAPTER 7
    A NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE A NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE
    I have learned the difference between a cactus and a caucus. On a cactus, the pricks are on the outside.
    â€”The late congressman Mo Udall
    O prah Winfrey delivered the first blow to Hillary in Iowa.
    For as long as anyone could remember, Oprah had been known as the“Queen of All Media.” But to many of her fans, especially those on the Left, Oprah was more than that. In their eyes, she was the “Queen of Everything”—the doyenne of America’s self-absorbed, secular, redistributive, and politically correct culture.
    Over the years, Hillary had worked hard to ingratiate herself with this powerful cultural figure. She sent Oprah handwritten notes, birthday greetings, and invitations to special Clinton events. Oprah had never endorsed a political candidate, and in the months leading up to the Iowa caucuses of 2008, Hillary expectedthat Oprah’s support for her would be understated—perhaps a nice spread in O, the Oprah Magazine and a couple of well-timed touchy-feely appearances on Oprah’s TV show.
    But in a dramatic break with precedent, Oprah ditched Hillary and endorsed Barack Obama for president. Her endorsement garnered headlines all over America.
    To explain her decision, Oprah appeared on Larry King Live . The irrepressible King could hardly wait to ask the Queen if she had put her money where her mouth was.
    â€œWell,” replied Oprah, who was a mega-millionaire, “the truth of the matter is, whether I contribute or not contribute, you are limited to how much you [can] contribute, so my money isn’t going to make any difference to him. I think that my value to him, my support of him, is probably worth more than any check.”
    That turned out to be the understatement of the election season.A study by two Maryland economists later concluded that Oprah’s endorsement of Obama was worth more than one million votes in the primary race and put him over the top.
    It was no secret that Oprah wanted to see an African American in the Oval Office. But her rationale for backing Obama went beyond race. The fact was, Oprah had never forgotten—nor forgiven—how she was dissed when Bill and Hillary were in the White House.
    In an interview for this book, a close Oprah friend explained why Oprah still carried a grudge against the Clintons.
    On May 7, 1999, two of President Clinton’s senior White House advisers, Richard Socarides and Minyon Moore, exchangedmemos about Oprah with the following derogatory subject line: “The fat lady hasn’t sung yet.”
    The memos were distributed to Elena Kagan, deputy director of the Domestic Policy Council and a future justice of the Supreme Court; Neera Tanden, senior policy adviser to First Lady Hillary Clinton; and Bruce Lindsey, deputy counsel to President Clinton.
    None of the recipients of the memos thought to object to the slur against Oprah.
    Oprah had sources in the Clinton White House who told her about the offending “fat lady” memo.
    â€œPeople in the Clinton administration desperately wanted Oprah to back certain presidential initiatives and lend her support to legislation, and when she showed a reluctance to do