They are the elite group of women who occupy the East Wing of the White House as their husbands serve as presidents of the United States.
Viewed as 'the true modern power brokers of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue', the first ladies have had different takes on their public positions and either love the proximity to the country's top policy advisers or view it as serving a prison term of teas, luncheons, dinners and photo ops.
There are friendships among this sorority of first ladies and turbulent rivalries as well as 'relationships fraught with hurt feelings and resentment, like that between Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama', Kate Andersen Brower writes in her new book, First Women, the Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies, published by Harper.
'The 2008 presidential campaign left deep and lasting scars on both the Clinton and the Obama camps, and they are still shockingly fresh.'
Scroll down for video
No love lost: Michelle never forgot how Hillary mocked her husband's message of 'hope and change' at a campaign rally in Ohio during that campaign
Michelle, now 52, never forgot how Hillary mocked her husband's message of 'hope and change' at a campaign rally in Ohio during that campaign.
'The sky will open, the light will come down, celestial choirs will be singing, and everyone will know that we should do the right thing, and the world would be perfect,' Clinton said.
Hillary was right; that certainly didn't happen and she has remained bitter for years that Senator Ted Kennedy, who had been her mentor in the Senate, did not support her presidential candidacy in 2008.
A source in Hillary's inner circle told the author that Hillary, now 68, is running again for president out of vengeance for that loss. She needs to win.
Obama is viewed by Hillary's circle of people as not having the same work ethic as Hillary who they see as having a long record of dedicated public service.
Those Clinton acolytes also suggest that 'Michelle has not done enough as first lady' and has failed to prioritize funding for some programs that subsequently lost their federal support.
One such program was Save America's Treasures, a program that Hillary started to help preserve and protect historic sites, arts and published works and was lovingly carried on by Laura Bush, the next first lady.
Michelle felt no such obligation to those treasures and let the program dissolve.
Michelle's feelings towards Hillary were blatantly obvious when no couple dinners were scheduled at the Obama White House while Hillary was secretary of state and frequently meeting with the President.
Michelle is very close to Jill Biden and Vice President Joe Biden. She was hoping that Biden would run against Hillary for the Democratic nomination and his win would take away the sweet taste of victory once again for Hillary.
'When Michelle Obama views the Clintons, I don't want to say she's looking down her nose at them – but she kind of is', a former Obama adviser confided to the author.
'Recent charges of corruption and messy contributions to the Clinton's Global Initiative, the family's $2 billion foundation' have fired up the enmity between both parties.
'It fits into the narrative about the Clintons that they come off as just trying to claw their way towards success and money'.
Michelle's aides state that she, herself, is looking forward to the day she can walk out of what she calls a 'really nice prison', be a former first lady and make those big bucks herself on book deals and speaking fees.
Hillary earned a near-record advance of a reported $8 million when she penned a book deal with publisher Simon & Schuster in the final month of Bill's presidency to write about her years as first lady.
Don't ask! It's hell. I can't stand it!
What Michelle allegedly told Carla Bruni-Sarkozy about being first lady
Michelle is so frustrated in the White House, she's eager to exit the fishbowl. She longs to be a private person again.
When the Obamas moved into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Michelle was 45 and it was the first time in her adult life that she was not working.
Back in her hometown of Chicago, she was earning $275,000 annually as vice president of external affairs at the University of Chicago Medical Center.
She loved the job.
The election changed the game and Michelle felt apprehensive about how her daughters, Malia and Sasha, 10 and 7 at the time, would transition into a high profile life in the big white mansion in Washington.
That transition was solely her responsibility and she called on her mother, Marian Robinson, to give up her own life in Chicago and accompany the family to Washington.
Marion was not keen on the move and was sweetly ensconced in her life in Chicago but she had been Michelle's infrastructure – as Michelle calls it -- in Chicago where Barack was home Thursday night until Monday.
Michelle has leaned on her mother's guiding hand for years and credits her with helping the family stay grounded there as well as in the White House.
Over the past seven years, Michelle's unhappiness is evident in the increasingly difficult access to her as first lady.
'Requests to the first lady's East Wing office for an interview are normally politely declined', stated veteran CBS News correspondent Bill Plant who has covered the White House since 1981.
Friends of the first lady say that Michelle's unhappiness as first lady is the reason for that hard line.
She is on her fourth social secretary after the departure of Jeremy Bernard, the first man and first openly gay social secretary.
Turnover in her East Wing office is higher than most of her predecessors.
Barack is aware of his wife's unhappiness but there's little he can do until his term is over. He's too involved in policy making as well crafting his political legacy in these final months.
Michelle has never enjoyed politics, glad-handing and raising money.
When the now-mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel was Obama's first chief of staff, he wanted Michelle on the road campaigning for her husband because her approval ratings were higher than Barack's at the time.
But Michelle felt she was being bullied by Emanuel into campaigning and committing her to make appearances without consulting her first. She also did not like that she was assigned a small and rather uncomfortable plane compared with Barack's.
Rahm Emanuel announced his resignation to leave in 2010 to return to Chicago and run for mayor, which he won.
Michelle's relationship with Barack's first press secretary Robert Gibbs, was as lousy as it was with Emanuel.
Gibbs, who had worked for Barack for six years, was instrumental in averting a potentially explosive public relations nightmare in September 2010 when a French publication reported that Michelle confided in French First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy that her own position as first lady was hell.
'Don't ask! It's hell. I can't stand it!' Michelle allegedly whispered to the former supermodel.
Gibbs smothered the story but when he was told that Michelle was not happy with how he handled the situation, he cursed and the following year, he handed in his resignation.
Gibbs had been one of few who were ever critical of what transpired in the East Wing.
He was concerned that Michelle's decision in 2009 to hire decorator Michael Smith, to handle some work in their private quarters would subject the Obamas to public backlash.
Smith had been linked to an outrageously expensive redecoration of ousted Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain's office with a $1200 trashcan and an $87,000 rug -- expenditures viewed as Wall Street greed during the financial crisis.
Barack agreed with Gibbs and Smith was asked to order from stores like Anthropologie.
The event fueled Michelle's resentment that her husband's advisers were reviewing her decisions.
From the beginning of her term as first lady, Michelle made it clear that she had no interest in following in Hillary's footsteps and playing a role in the West Wing.
'The notion of sitting around the table with a set of policy advisers – no offense – makes me yawn'.
She does not want to be told about daily issues that the West Wing is dealing with and is not interested in making policy.
Michelle turned to focusing on being a fashion icon and her campaign to end childhood obesity for which she has also been criticized as being the food police and dictating what children should eat.
Michelle has ramped up her trips with the girls and her mother and clearly enjoys herself when she's out of the country.
One lavish trip she took in 2010 to Spain with her daughter, Sasha and family friends was criticized for costing taxpayers half a million dollars which included the cost of footing the bill for the Secret Service and the first lady's staff travel expenses.
The Obamas paid for hotel expenses and the price of first class airfare. Taxpayers picked up the rest of the tab.
Michelle is not part of the social scene in Washington that Hillary and Bill so warmly embraced.
The Obamas socialize with the same friends they had in Chicago, the Whitaker and Nesbitt families who lived near them in their Hyde Park neighborhood. They both have children close to the same age.
Appearing on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert in September 2015, Michelle confessed to host Colbert that she was anxious to escape the constant 'watchful eye of the Secret Service'.
She wanted to do even a little thing like opening the car window herself.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3534294/How-Michelle-Obama-refused-invite-Hillary-Bill-Clinton-dinner-wanted-Joe-Biden-run-t-wait-leave-White-House-make-money-book-deals-speaking-fees.html
No comments:
Post a Comment