Hildebeest with a Heart Condition

Well, this is interesting. In Blood Feud, his latest book, veteran journalist Edward Klein claims that Hillary has a problem with her ticker:

When the author attempted to contact the Clintons’ cardiologist, Dr. Allan Schwartz, he refused to comment, which made it impossible to determine the exact nature of Hillary’s medical status or its long-term significance. However, sources who discussed Hillary’s medical condition with her were told that Hillary’s doctors considered performing valve-replacement surgery. They ultimately decided against it. Still, before they released Hillary from the hospital, they warned Bill Clinton: “She has to be carefully monitored for the rest of her life.”

That last sentence is usually a wise precaution when dealing with any Machiavellian socialist career lifer politician. Elsewhere in his book, excerpted in the New York Post, Klein has delicious details of the mammoth egos vying for power and dueling for alpha-Dem status inside the Beltway:

Outwardly, they put on a show of unity — but privately, the Obamas and Clintons, the two power couples of the Democrat Party, loathe each other.

“I hate that man Obama more than any man I’ve ever met, more than any man who ever lived,” Bill Clinton said to friends on one occasion, adding he would never forgive Obama for suggesting he was a racist during the 2008 campaign. [If not a racist, certainly a racialist — Ed.]

The feeling is mutual. Obama made ­excuses not to talk to Bill, while the first lady privately sniped about Hillary.

On most evenings, Michelle Obama and her trusted adviser, Valerie Jarrett, met in a quiet corner of the White House residence. They’d usually open a bottle of Chardonnay, catch up on news about Sasha and Malia, and gossip about people who gave them heartburn.

Their favorite bête noire was Hillary Clinton, whom they nicknamed “Hildebeest,” after the menacing and shaggy-maned gnu that roams the Serengeti.

Read the whole thing. Regarding the chasm between Barry and Bubba, at Power Line, John Hinderaker writes:

This is revealing. Bill Clinton was a mostly-successful president. Sure, you can say he was just along for the ride: he benefited from the era of explosive innovation that began with the internet. While he gave speeches advocating school uniforms, and a Republican Congress blocked him from raising taxes and implementing Hillarycare or anything similar, the economy boomed.

Still, in any sane world, an unsuccessful president–Barack Obama–would seek counsel from a successful one. As Clinton said, George Bush was glad to get his advice, and rightfully so. One of Obama’s many problems is that he is uncomfortable around first-rate people. He is a second- or third-rate intellect–no shame in that–but he is too defensive to get help from those who know more than he does, like Bill Clinton or George Bush. Among many others. So we have mediocrities like Joe Biden, John Kerry, Valerie Jarrett and Chuck Hagel making policy.

Linking to a Politico piece titled, “Barack Obama: The Man Who Broke The Middle East,” Glenn Reynolds insta-quips, “Hey, he’s a better speechwriter than his speechwriters, a better policy analyst than his policy analysts, and a better Muslim than the Muslims. It’s not his failure. It’s the world of Islam that let him down. Poor Barack. The world just isn’t up to his standards.”