Part V: Barack Obama and Final Thoughts
Among the actors in Ed Klein's Blood Feud, Barack Obama comes across as the coldest. As was the case with Klein's previous book The Amateur, Obama - as rendered by the sources - is presented with no redeeming qualities. Why is this so? Does it reflect the author's bias? If it does, one has to consider Klein's treatment of the other characters.
Klein is no fan of the Clintons. Their support of Obama in both elections, particularly in 2012, displayed a willingness to put their own political future ahead of speaking out for the kind of leadership they believe America needs. As in the case of Benghazi, they bristled at the lie the president wanted Hillary to tell the American people about what had caused the attack - but they caved in.
Time and again, before and since the Obama presidency, the Clintons have put political expediency before doing the right thing. Honesty has never been a hallmark of Bill and Hillary's reputation. In spite of this, Klein finds positive things to write about them.
There are reports throughout the book of Bill Clinton lecturing Obama directly (and through surrogates) about how he must work sincerely with Republicans to get positive legislation passed. Bill believes Obama's rigidity in refusing to find common ground with the Republican House is the true cause of gridlock in Washington. Bill's willingness to negotiate across the aisle is an admirable trait in a leader.
Klein's account gives credit to Hillary's efficient management of the state department even though her term was without major international accomplishments. Her main criticism of Obama is that his hand is not on the "tiller", in other words, all departments are allowed to run their own fiefdoms into the ground - from the justice department right down to the VA. (The prime exception is the state department - foreign policy is run directly by Obama and Jarrett.)
Michelle Obama and Valerie Jarrett - domineering and uncompromising as they are - at least have to be admired for making bold decisions. It was they who urged Obama to stand firm in the fight for Obamacare in 2010 and they who have struggled to keep his foreign policy on a predictable and consistent course. There is a scene towards the latter portion of the book when Valerie Jarrett storms into the Oval Office and verbally rips the president over his unscripted "red line" comment to the press about what he would do in the event chemical weapons were used in Syria. She scolded, "You weren't elected to be a war president!" Both Michelle and Valerie believe Barack to be a waffler when it comes to making decisions. He relies on them to keep him "focused."
Although Ed Klein's sources shed light on some positive traits among the Clintons, Michelle Obama, and Valerie Jarrett, they are uniformly negative on Barack Obama. Among the reports in Blood Feud, the president is variously aloof, asleep at the helm, a waffler at decision-making, cunning, cynical, habitually dishonest, uncompromising, and manifestly arrogant.
On the last point, the author compares Barack Obama to Woodrow Wilson, another president with a grim messianic self-image. When re-elected to a second term in 1916, President Wilson was contacted by the DNC chairman with recommendations for bureaucratic appointments. He flatly dismissed the request by telling the chairman, "It must be understood that I owe you nothing." Wilson went on to say that God ordained him to be president and that he owes no one else any favors. Klein traces Obama's belief in God's anointing of him to the presidency to a dinner Barack had with Father Pfleger in 2005. In that meeting, Obama told Pfleger God has revealed to him the presidency in his future.
Final Thoughts
As I've stated before, books on current affairs are gossipy and rely heavily on anonymous sources. Repeated use of unnamed sources can lead the reader to question the reliability of the claims made in the book; Klein convincing provides enough background and cross-referencing to overcome this.
Regardless of the shortcomings inherit in the conduct of this type of work, Klein produced a necessary product that informs the public of goings-on between the people making the big decisions affecting our country. Gossip has to be grappled with in order to reach the kernels of the truth that will otherwise be locked away until written about in memoirs or declassified years later - after they've ceased to be of use to voters.
On the characters and shenanigans treated in Blood Feud, I can only feel sad about the lives of people who thirst for power. Their lives - although rich in the comforts of material reality - seem void of joy and happiness. The Obamas and Valerie Jarrett seem to crave the high life of the White House but are constantly looking for fault in the people surrounding them.
Bill and Hillary Clinton live their lives for the pursuit of power and prestige for its own sake, sacrificing happiness and the gifts of marriage in the process. Bill Clinton in particular, has not known peace since he left the presidency in 2001. At the time, he told an interviewer he would have done that job until he "dropped dead."
Ed Klein tells us dropping dead in the race for a Hillary victory in 2016 is very much on Bill Clinton's mind. His heart disease is well advanced and Clinton confidants have told Klein that Bill has given Hillary detailed instructions on how to handle his death and funeral should it occur during her presidency. He wants to be buried at Arlington and for the funeral to be a lavish state event.
Blood Feud is an important book above all because it has one foot in the present state of the Obama presidency and another foot in the developing battles for 2016. These are developments voters need to be informed about as the next election approaches. With that in mind, Ed Klein has done us a vital service.
A Patriot
