Bill Clinton: Barack Obama's Best Frenemy

James Taranto, writing at the Best of the Web, refers us back to a New York Post article by Edward Klein. It’s adapted from the newly released paperback edition of The Amateur, Klein’s behind-the-scenes look at the SCOAMF administration.

In 2011 this column put forward the hypothesis that Bill Clinton was Barack Obama’s “frenemy”–a slang term for somebody who actively undermines another while feigning friendship. We figured Clinton didn’t really want Obama to eclipse him by becoming the second Democratic president since Franklin Roosevelt to win two full terms.

Over the ensuing months Clinton seemed to confirm the theory by making plenty of backhanded remarks about Obama, but when it really mattered–at last year’s Democratic National Convention–he delivered what author Edward Klein accurately describes as “a full-throated endorsement.”

But in a the new paperback edition of “The Amateur: Barack Obama in the White House,” excerpted in yesterday’s New York Post, Klein revives the frenemy theory. “A deal was struck,” Klein claims, the quo for the Clinton’s speech quid was an Obama endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president in 2016:

But after his re-election, Obama began to have second thoughts. He would prefer to stay neutral in the next election, as is traditional of outgoing presidents.

Bill Clinton went ballistic and threatened retaliation. Obama backed down. He called his favorite journalist, Steve Kroft of “60 Minutes,” and offered an unprecedented “farewell interview” with departing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The result was a slobbering televised love-in–and an embarrassment to all concerned.

Assuming Klein is right, recent events in Washington make for an interesting twist on the frenemy theory. With the current scandals and the impending implementation of ObamaCare, it’s quite possible an Obama endorsement will be poisonous come 2016. Imagine if Richard Nixon had endorsed and campaigned for Gerald Ford in 1976. Mrs. Clinton may find that the man she seeks to replace is her worst frenemy.

Here are a couple of pages from the introduction to The Amateur.

Click here if you want to order the new paperback edition from Amazon.