And you thought President Obama had disdain for Hillary Clinton during the 2008 presidential campaign? Well, it seems the president has even more bad feelings about Mitt Romney as they battle for residence in the White House.
At least that’s’ what a soon-to-be-released e-book conveys. “Obama’s Last Stand,’ written by Politico’s Glenn Thrush paints a rival filled with personal discord.
According to the book, when Obama talked about Romney in recent months, “aides picked up a level of anger he never had for (Hillary) Clinton or (John) McCain,” Thrush writes in the book, to be published on Aug. 20.
Thrush also wrote in the book that Obama disdain for Romney grew as the campaigning progressed. He “began campaign preparations feeling neutral about Romney, but like the former governor’s GOP opponents in 2008 and 2012, he quickly developed a genuine disdain for the man,” according to excerpts released by Politico.
Obama’s Last Stand is the latest in a series of e-books on the campaign produced by Politico.
In it, Thrush writes of the president’s anti-Romney views:
“That scorn stoked Obama’s competitive fire, got his head in the game, which came as a relief to some Obama aides who had seen his interest flag when he didn’t feel motivated to crush the opposition.
Obama, a person close to him told me, didn’t even feel this strongly about conservative, combative House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, the Hill Republican he disliked the most. At least Cantor stood for something, he’d say.
“When he talked about Romney, aides picked up a level of anger he never had for Clinton or McCain, even after Sarah Palin was picked as his running mate. ‘There was a baseline of respect for John McCain. The president always thought he was an honorable man and a war hero,’ said a longtime Obama adviser. ‘That doesn’t hold true for Romney. He was no god—— war hero.'”
