The Amateur (18 page)
Authors: Edward Klein
“Our family has spies all over the Obama administration,” said a member of the Kennedy clan. “There are a lot of Kennedy loyalists from Ted’s old office and his connections throughout Washington who are in high positions in the White House agencies. People like Melody Barnes, the director of the Domestic Policy Council; Kenneth Feinberg, the special master of the September 11
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Victim Compensation Fund; James Steinberg, a former deputy secretary of state; and Greg Craig, the former White House counsel under Obama.
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Victim Compensation Fund; James Steinberg, a former deputy secretary of state; and Greg Craig, the former White House counsel under Obama.
“Through these and other people, Caroline heard back that there was a lot of nasty shit being said about the Kennedys by the president and Michelle,” the family member continued. “There were catty remarks about how badly the Kennedy women dressed, and how their houses were shabby and threadbare. Caroline got the impression that most of this negativity was coming from Michelle, who didn’t want the Kennedys to be part of the administration for fear that they would have too much influence over the president.
“Gradually, Caroline began to change her tune and side with Bobby and Kathleen [Kennedy Townsend] against the Obamas. Unlike Jackie, who was completely a-political, Caroline is liberal with a capital L. When Obama didn’t raise taxes to balance the budget, Caroline marked him down. In her eyes, he’s a mess because he doesn’t follow the liberal bible on politics. More important, Caroline discovered that the Obamas didn’t give a damn about her or her support. For instance, she was not invited to the state dinners at the White House hosted by the Obamas, or to the president’s forty-ninth birthday celebration in Chicago.
“It really annoyed Caroline when comparisons were made by the media between Michelle and Jackie. Caroline had a word for such comparisons; she called them ‘odious.’ She really got annoyed. And when she began to fall out of love with the Obamas, love was replaced by outright scorn. Now she says things about Obama like, ‘I can’t stand to hear his voice any more. He’s a liar and worse.’”
On Halloween, 2011, Caroline Kennedy received an invitation to attend a reception celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the White House Historical Society. She could hardly have been ignored in this case because it was her mother, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, who had restored many parts of the White House and established the White House Historical Association in 1961.
The reception was closed to the press. Michelle Obama posed for a photo with Caroline, which was released later. But that was it. There was no invitation to the Family Quarters, where Caroline had lived and played as a child. After the photo, Michelle spun on her heels and left.
“Caroline said that shaking hands with Michelle was like shaking hands with a cold fish,” a close family adviser who talked with Caroline after the White House event said. “Caroline had the feeling she wasn’t really wanted there. Michelle gave the distinct impression that she doesn’t like her. Caroline can be pretty standoffish herself, but she was surprised at how cold Michelle was to her.
“The only thing personal about the meeting was when Michelle turned to Caroline and said, ‘The president is going to put the Keystone Pipeline project on hold and wouldn’t Bobby like that?’ In response, Caroline said, ‘Bobby would like to meet with the president about the Keystone Pipeline being not only delayed, but being aggressively attacked and killed.’ Michelle looked stricken. She said, ‘Bobby should call the White House,’ meaning that he would have to go through channels like everybody else.
“Caroline’s attitude about the 2012 election is that, as a loyal Democrat, she has nowhere to go, no one else to possibly support except Obama. What really pisses her off is that the Obamas know that she has nowhere else to go, so they see no point in being nice to her.”
CHAPTER 15
THE JEWISH PROBLEM WITH OBAMA
Jews earn like Episcopalians and vote like Puerto Ricans.
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othing pleased Barack Obama more than the opportunity to leave his carping critics behind and escape overseas, where his reputation as an amateur had not caught up with him. And so last November, after bashing the Republicans for failing to pass an expensive jobs bill that he knew in advance would never collect the necessary votes, the embattled president eagerly bounded up the ramp of Air Force One for the nine-hour flight to Cannes, in the south of France, where he was scheduled to rub shoulders with presidents, prime ministers, and heads of state at the Group of 20 summit meeting.
othing pleased Barack Obama more than the opportunity to leave his carping critics behind and escape overseas, where his reputation as an amateur had not caught up with him. And so last November, after bashing the Republicans for failing to pass an expensive jobs bill that he knew in advance would never collect the necessary votes, the embattled president eagerly bounded up the ramp of Air Force One for the nine-hour flight to Cannes, in the south of France, where he was scheduled to rub shoulders with presidents, prime ministers, and heads of state at the Group of 20 summit meeting.
Three thousand five hundred journalists and a fleet of two hundred motorcycle escorts were on hand to greet Obama. The city center was locked down by twelve thousand security guards and ten thousand metal barriers. Snipers were positioned on top of hotels and all the high points in the city, and divers inspected the port and its boats. Yachts were forbidden to dock off Cannes’ famous Boulevard de la Croisette. The Palais des Festivals, which hosts the annual Cannes Film Festival, was booked to accommodate the visiting dignitaries. Photos of Obama mingling with his fellow summiteers and looking like the Leader of the Free World were transmitted back to the United States, where Obama’s handlers hoped they would man-up his wussy image.
For Obama, the spectacle in Cannes recalled the heady days during the 2008 presidential campaign when he was treated like the Second Coming of the Messiah. As he relaxed among friends in the French resort city, years of care seemed to melt from the lines on his face. By the time he sat down with his host, the president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, for a private conversation before a final press conference, Obama was in such a relaxed and jovial mood that he didn’t notice the open microphone nearby. His subsequent conversation was recorded by reporters in an adjoining room.
“Netanyahu!” said Sarkozy, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu. “I can’t stand him. He’s a liar.”
To which an unguarded American president replied: “
You’re
sick of him? I have to work with him every day.”
You’re
sick of him? I have to work with him every day.”
The publication of Obama’s impolitic comment, first reported by a French website and confirmed by the Associated Press, provided a window into the president’s true feelings about Bibi Netanyahu and his right-of-center government in Israel. Obama entered office with the professed goal of bringing about an independent Palestinian state before the end of his first term, and he blamed Netanyahu, rather than his own misguided policies and the pitfalls of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, for preventing him from reaching that objective.
Just six months before the Cannes summit, Obama had set off a firestorm in Israel by calling upon the Jewish state to accept its 1967 borders, with agreed upon land swamps, as a basis for resuming negotiations with the Palestinians. Along with most Israelis, Netanyahu was shocked and appalled by Obama’s display of rank amateurism in the art of diplomatic negotiations. Like previous Israeli prime ministers, Netanyahu was prepared to negotiate on the basis of the 1967 borders, but he wasn’t so naïve that he would give away that key negotiating point without demanding that the Palestinians first agree to recognize the legitimacy of the state of Israel. As a result, Netanyahu rejected Obama’s initiative, handing the American president yet another foreign policy setback, and sinking relations between Washington and Jerusalem to their lowest point since the administration of Jimmy Carter.
This, in turn, had serious domestic consequences for Obama’s relations with one of his key political constituencies—the American Jewish community. “Jewish voters,” wrote Erica Werner of the Associated Press, “though comprising only 2 percent of the electorate nationwide, are an important part of Obama’s base and could make a difference in battleground states including Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Nevada in a close election. Moreover, the Jewish community is an important source of donations, and Obama campaign supporters want to maintain that support as much as Republicans want to chip away at it.”
In the nearly eighty years since President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, relations between American Jews and the Democratic Party had been as close as lips and teeth. Even as Jews prospered and assimilated into the mainstream of American life, most of them remained loyal to FDR’s liberal vision and refrained from following the pattern of other affluent groups by shifting to the Republican Party. Over the course of the past twenty presidential election cycles, a stunning 75 percent of the Jewish vote has on average gone to the Democratic presidential candidate.
If further proof of Jewish loyalty to the Democrats were needed, it was provided by the 2008 election of Barack Obama. On a key issue for many Jewish voters—support for Israel—the hawkish John McCain started off with a decisive advantage over Obama, whose past associations with the anti-Semitic Reverend Jeremiah Wright and the Israel-bashing Columbia University Professor Rashid Khalidi raised troubling questions in the minds of many Jews. And yet, when the vote was tallied, Obama trounced McCain among Jews by a staggering 57-point margin.
“After decades of involvement in the civil rights movement by American Jews, Obama stirred deep emotions in the Jewish community,” Bret Stephens, the deputy editorial page editor of the
Wall Street Journal
, told the author of this book. “The black-Jewish alliance was shattered in the late 1960s, and Jews have yearned ever since to restore it. Jews felt good about voting for Obama, for not only were they voting for a guy they agreed with and liked, but they were also voting for their own personal redemption.”
Wall Street Journal
, told the author of this book. “The black-Jewish alliance was shattered in the late 1960s, and Jews have yearned ever since to restore it. Jews felt good about voting for Obama, for not only were they voting for a guy they agreed with and liked, but they were also voting for their own personal redemption.”
A sizable number of American Jews, however, are having a serious case of buyer’s remorse when it comes to Barack Obama. Recent polls of the Jewish community reflect a significant decline in support from 2008, when 78 percent of Jewish voters pulled the lever for Obama. According to one poll, Obama’s approval rating among American Jews has plummeted to 54 percent. Others, such as a survey of the American Jewish Committee, have cast it even lower.
Among the many factors driving down Obama’s numbers among Jewish voters was the president’s hostile attitude toward businessmen in general and Wall Street in particular. But what really appeared to irritate American Jews was the president’s roughhouse treatment of Israel.
As the 2012 presidential election drew near, Obama backed off from some of his public assaults on Israel, and hired a high-level Jewish outreach director to smooth over hurt feelings. But Obama was still in trouble with large segments of the Jewish community. The 2011 annual survey by the American Jewish Committee revealed declining Jewish support for Obama. Among its findings:
• For the first time during Obama’s presidency, disapproval among Jewish voters exceeded approval by 48 to 45 percent
• Obama’s approval rating among Jews had dropped 10 percent in the past twelve months
• A majority (53 percent) disapproved of Obama’s handling of Israel-U.S. relations
• A plurality of Jews (45 percent) disapproved of Obama’s handling of the Iran nuclear issue
• A majority (55 percent) opposed establishing a Palestinian state “in the current situation”
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