Barack Obama said he couldn't blame Hillary Clinton for resenting him during their battle against each other for the Democratic...
Barack Obama said he couldn't blame Hillary Clinton for resenting him during their battle against each other for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 Presidential race, pointing out she had 'sacrificed, endured public attacks and humiliations all in service of her husband's career' - only to be bested by a relative political newcomer.
In his new memoir 'A Promised Land' Obama reveals he thought that Clinton would lose to him because she 'just couldn't escape the rancour, grudges and hardened assumptions arising out of the Clinton White House years'.
The former president's book is out today and is Obama's accounting of his sole term in the US Senate, his historic run for the Presidency and his first term in office.
He reflects on facing off against Clinton, writing he 'tried to appreciate the frustrations Hillary must have been feeling'.
Obama wrote: 'A woman of enormous intelligence, she had toiled, sacrificed, endured public attacks and humiliations all in service of her husband's career - while also raising a wonderful daughter….
'As a candidate she was performing almost flawlessly….and now to find herself suddenly in a close contest with a man 14 years younger, who hadn't had to pay the same dues, who didn't carry the same battle scars and who seemed to be getting every break and every benefit of the doubt? Honestly who wouldn't be aggravated?'
Barack Obama said he couldn't blame Hillary Clinton for resenting him during their battle against each other for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 presidential race, pointing out she had 'sacrificed, endured public attacks and humiliations all in service of her husband's career' - only to be bested by a relative political newcomer.
In his new memoir 'A Promised Land' Obama reveals he thought that Clinton would lose to him because she 'just couldn't escape the rancour, grudges and hardened assumptions arising out of the Clinton White House years'. Pictured: Hillary Clinton standing by her husband Bill as he emphatically denied having affair w. former White House intern Monica Lewinsky
Monica Lewinsky, a 22-year old White House summer intern at the time, with Bill Clinton
The reflection came about after Obama had a striking encounter with Clinton during the 2008 race where she got 'agitated' with him and her voice 'sharpened' as she accused him of underhand tactics.
What started with an attempt by Obama to cool relations between them ended up with Clinton storming off looking 'visibly angry'.
He writes that going up against Clinton in 2008 was a hard choice but he felt that he could beat her.
Barack Obama;s memoir, 'A Promise Land,' (pictured) will be released on November 17
Obama writes: 'That I decided to run despite Hillary's presence in the race had less to do with any assessment of her personal shortcomings and more to do with my feelings that she just couldn't escape the rancour, grudges and hardened assumptions arising out of the Clinton White House years.
'Fair or not, I didn't see how she could close America's political divide, or change how Washington did business, or provide the country with the fresh start it needed'.
As Obama's campaign began to gain momentum, Clinton's team began to attack him but sometimes those attacks went too far.
Billy Shaheen, co-chair of Clinton's campaign in New Hampshire suggested to reporters that Obama's self disclosed prior drug use would be 'fatal' against the candidate.
Shaheen then went further and implied Obama had 'dealt drugs as well', the memoir says.
Obama and Clinton were due in Washington for a Senate vote and afterwards their private planes back to Iowa to resume campaigning happened to be parked next to each other at the airport in Washington, so they had an impromptu meeting.
Obama writes: 'Hillary apologized for Shaheen. I thanked her and then suggested we both do a better job of reining in our surrogates.
'At this, Hillary got agitated, her voice sharpening as she claimed that my team was routinely engaging in unfair tactics, distortions and underhanded tactics. My efforts at lowering the temperature were unsuccessful and the conversation ended abruptly, with her still visibly angry as she boarded the plane.'
By the end of February 2008, when it became clear to Obama's team he would be the Democratic nominee, he was disappointed that 'Hillary simply would not give up'
In 'A Promised Land,' Obama quotes his aide David Plouffe who said about Clinton, 'She's like a f***ing vampire ...You can't kill her off'. His assessment proved prescient given her failed run for the Presidency in 2016 against Donald Trump
By the end of February 2008, when it became clear to Obama's team he would be the Democratic nominee, he was disappointed that 'Hillary simply would not give up'.
Obama writes: 'Anyone else would have. She was running out of money. Her campaign was in turmoil, with staff recriminations spilling out into the press….and yet she soldiered on, embracing her underdog status.
'She's like a f****** vampire', (his campaign manager David) Plouffe groused. 'You can't kill her off'.
His assessment proved prescient given her failed run for the Presidency in 2016 against Donald Trump.
Obama writes: 'Her tenacity was admirable, but my sympathies extended only so far'.
He says that Clinton refusing to concede meant that 'nobody on my team would get a break' before taking on Republican candidate John McCain.
Clinton clawed back victories in Ohio and Texas and gave her enough 'wind in her sails' to keep her in the contest for another two months.
Obama writes: 'When someone (on his campaign) offered up the theory we had all died and entered purgatory where we were destined to debate Hillary for all eternity, no one laughed. It felt too close to the truth'.
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