War of the White House: Michelle fights Obama's former Chief of Staff in raging Oval Office power battles

Michelle Obama and Rahm Emanuel clashed over health care reform, new book reveals



Paints picture of divided White House where East and West wings at odds



First Lady Michelle Obama was frustrated with her husband’s advisers and clashed with then chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, especially over the push for health care overhaul.



A book slated to be released this Tuesday tells of a divided White House where tensions developed between Mrs Obama and Mr Emanuel, with their relationship became increasingly frosty.



The two rarely saw eye to eye. The book reveals several fascinating bits of information - from Mr Emanuel rebuffing the first lady’s chief of staff, Jackie Norris, from attending a morning meeting of top staffers, to Mrs Obama’s reticence to campaign in the 2010 midterm elections.



Clash of the titans: Jodi Kantor's book reveals Michelle Obama (left) and Barack's former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel (right) 'butted heads'

Arguably the most prominent point of contention New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor reveals between the first lady and Mr Emanuel was the friction over healthcare reform and Mrs Obama’s scepticism of so-called backroom deals being cut.

The tensions originated after the seat left open by Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy was eventually lost to Republican Scott Brown, jeopardizing the success of her husband's legislation.

The president received the brunt of his wife’s fury, Ms Kantor writes in her book , The Obamas. He reportedly told his aides: ‘She feels as if our rudder isn’t set right.’

Mrs Obama ‘made it clear that she thought her husband needed a new team, according to her aides,’ Ms Kantor said.

Influential: The book claims that Michelle Obama is more powerful within the White House than previously thought

She writes: ‘To her, the Scott Brown victory provided grim evidence for what she had been saying for months, in some cases years: (her husband) had been leaning on the same tight group of insular, disorganised advisers for too long.

‘They were not careful planners who looked out for worst-case scenarios.’

According to Ms Kantor, early in 2010 as the president's health care agenda seemed in danger of collapsing, Mrs Obama let it be known she was annoyed by how the White House was handling the strategy.



After media reports indicated Mr Emanuel was unhappy pursuing the health care overhaul, he offered to resign, Ms Kantor wrote. The president declined the offer.

‘Your punishment is that you have to stay here and get this bill done,’ the president said, according to then senior adviser David Axelrod. ‘I’m not letting you off the hook.

Not welcomed: Michelle Obama's chief of staff Jackie Norris (pictured) was rebuffed from a morning meeting by Rahm Emanuel, the books says

From past sour experiences with another White House wife – former first lady and current Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton - Mr Emanuel tried to avoid Mrs Obama.

Ms Kantor writes that the East and West wings became so separate from each other that some referred to the East Wing as ‘Guam – pleasant but powerless.’

For one thing, Mrs Obama's former chief of staff Jackie Norris was rebuffed by Mr Emanuel to attend a top-staff 7:30am White House meeting.

But that is only one of many startling anecdotes Ms Kantor reveals.



'Michelle and Rahm Emanuel had almost no bond. They were the president's two spouses, in a sense, one public and official and one private and informal.'



In 2009, Mr Emanuel told Rep Allen Boyd (D-Florida) that the first lady would make an appearance at an event to lobby for an energy bill, without asking Mrs Obama’s permission first.

Mrs Obama was depending on Rep Boyd’s vote on the health care legislation. Rep Boyd, meanwhile, was banking on her support in defeating a challenger in his predominately black constituency. The East Wing staff reportedly knew Rep Boyd was planning to vote against the health care overhaul – though he later voted in favour of the final bill.

Upheaval: Rahm Emanuel, left, offered to resign as Chief of Staff over health reform

Rep Boyd told the Huffington Post that the event was held in Miami, more than 600 miles away from his district, and said: ‘I never heard any words like that or spoke any words like that,’ referring to the link between Michelle Obama’s visit and the environmental vote.

Mrs Obama manifested her frustration by remaining reluctant to campaign for the midterms, former aides said.



Anger: Mrs Obama and Mr Emanuel clashed in 2009 over a visit to Rep Allen Boyd (D-Florida, pictured)

The two were often jockeying to win the president's opinion. ‘Michelle and Rahm Emanuel had almost no bond,’ Ms Kantor writes, saying that from the get-go, the two were awkward.

‘They were the president’s two spouses, in a sense, one public and official and one private and informal.’



In an excerpt published by the Times Friday night, Ms Kantor also revealed Mrs Obama's priorities.

'She does think there are worse things than losing an election,' Susan S. Sher said after the 2010 midterm elections.



The first lady's former chief of staff added: 'Being true to yourself, for her, is definitely more important.'

The Times's adaptation of the book portrays Mrs Obama as having gone through an evolution from struggle to fulfillment in her role at the White House, but all the while an 'unrecognised force' in pursuing the president's goals.

She is seen publicly as the friendly and popular face of the softer side of the White House, the one reading to school kids or promoting exercise as a means to reduce child obesity.

Preceding the 2010 elections, the three were at odds at how to best approach them. Mrs Obama, having just been confronted by a second-grader whose mother didn’t have immigration papers, was strongly pushing for her husband to address the importance of immigration reform.

'To her, the Scott Brown victory provided grim evidence for what she had been saying for months, in some cases years: (her husband) had been leaning on the same tight group of insular, disorganized advisers for too long; they were not careful planners who looked out for worst-case scenarios.'



Mr Emanuel, however, didn’t see the need, as he thought the legislation didn’t stand the chance for approval.



Though Mr Obama ended up making the speech, his remarks were widely forgotten because, as Ms Kantor says, the media was questioning an issue that had not been cultivated enough in the public eye.

She writes: ‘Obama became quietly furious at his team for not giving the address more support…

'The first lady fumed too: she took it as more proof that her husband’s advisers were poorly serving him.’

Controversy: Remarks made by Mrs Obama to Carla Bruni-Sarkozy required a damage limitation exercise in the White House

Among the more provocative anecdotes, Ms Kantor recounts a scene in which Mr Gibbs, frustrated after tamping down a potential public relations crisis involving the first lady, exploded when presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett told him the first lady had concerns about the White House response to the flap.

The initial commotion had been over an alleged remark by Michelle Obama to French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy that living in the White House was 'hell.'



Mr Gibbs cursed the first lady, who was absent. Ms Kantor writes that Mr Gibbs later said his anger was misplaced and that he blamed Ms Jarrett for creating the confrontation.

The White House had a cold reaction to the book, calling it an 'over-dramatisation of old news' and emphasising that the first couple did not speak to the author, who last interviewed them for a magazine piece in 2009.



New responsibilities: The first lady was at first unsure of her role, despite her glamorous reception

'The emotions, thoughts and private moments described in the book, though often seemingly ascribed to the president and first lady, reflect little more than the author's own thoughts,' White House spokesman Eric Schultz said.



'These secondhand accounts are staples of every administration in modern political history and often exaggerated.'

Ms Kantor, who began reporting on the Obamas in 2007, said that in 2008, Mrs Obama was thinking of delaying her move to Washington so her daughters could adjust to being the first children, perhaps not fully realising the message that would project.

Adviser Valerie Jarrett said she chose to move to the White House after her husband was elected because of ‘wanting her family to be together.’



Aides said in her early tenure as first lady, Mrs Obama struggled with insecurity about her new role, despite a public outpouring of admiration for her glamour and poise. The Harvard-educated lawyer battled with the traditionally ‘shapeless post.’

She was deeply frustrated with elements of her new life, including the fact that she could no longer take her daughters to school functions without fear of causing a commotion.

Next to normal: Aides said the first lady was at first unsure about her very public role, which meant no more shopping trips without the Secret Service and a handful of staffers

Other rituals that many consider mundane – grocery shopping for one – were now a dangerous endeavour which required sweeps of stores and an arsenal of Secret Service agents.



One aide said she felt additional pressure because she is the first African-American first lady. She wanted to bring grace and sophistication to her new post, but was discouraged of being lavish by the president’s advisers because of stormy joblessness reports and corporate bailouts.

She felt as though ‘everyone was waiting for a black woman to make a mistake,’ the former aide said.

The Times posted a 3,300-word adaption of the book, The Obamas, on its website Friday night. The accounts are based on interviews with 30 current and former aides, though President Barack Obama and the first lady declined to be interviewed for the book.