Obama knew his limits.
He sent his advisers to deal with the First Lady.
A new book reveals how Michelle Obama raged at White House advisers. The book also tells how White House advisers were forced confront the First Lady on her spending. Evidently, the president was not up to the task.
The Telegraph reported:
The First Lady reportedly believed that Mr Emmanuel’s willingness to cut backroom deals during the battle over health care reform was tainting Barack Obama’s image as a new kind of American leader.
The Obamas paints a picture of a presidential inner circle divided between Mrs Obama’s idealistic belief in what the administration could achieve and the grittier pragmatism of Mr Emmanuel.
The book, written by New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor, claims that the chief of staff refused to allow the president’s wife into high-level morning meetings, leading a brooding Mrs Obama to berate other senior advisers by email.
She allegedly sent furious notes to Alyssa Mastromonaco, the president’s director of scheduling, and to Valerie Jarrett, a Chicago friend who now serves as one President Obama’s top advisors.
Ms Jarrett was said to remove the First Lady’s name before circulating the emails widely within the West Wing.
The then-press secretary Robert Gibbs was apparently often dispatched to placate Mrs Obama when limits were put on the amount she could spend on clothes or White House redecoration, as well as to explain why she could not take private holiday while on state visits.
What a mess. They even had to lecture Michelle on her spending. They really do think they’re royalty.
