Bloodthirsty Liberal

We noted yesterday the curious leaking of the backstage backstabbing around our pathetically apathetic policy toward Iran after its stolen election, and found it entirely it plausible that Madame Secretary had let be known her displeasure and contempt.

Looks like we didn’t know the half of it.

First, this puzzling development:

In a slap at President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton will headline a fundraiser for a New York congresswoman challenging White House-backed Sen. Kristen Gillibrand in the state’s Democratic primary.

Clinton has not endorsed in the race, but his efforts to help Rep. Carolyn Maloney could be seen as a snub to Gillibrand and the Obama White House. Matt McKenna, a spokesman for Clinton, said he will be attending a July 20 fundraiser in New York.

The White House has played an active role in clearing the field for Gillibrand, who was appointed earlier this year to fill the seat vacated when Obama tapped Hillary Rodham Clinton to be his secretary of state. Obama asked Rep. Steve Israel not to challenge Gillibrand, a request he honored. Just days ago, Vice President Joe Biden called Maloney to discuss the race, a clear sign that the White House didn’t want a primary fight next year.

When the leader of the party asks for something, he usually gets it—but the Clintons do not acknowledge President Obama as the leader of the party. To them, he is a usurper. And aqs a former president himself, Bill is big enough to never let him forget it.

But this (from Jim Geraghty] is the sort of thing we’ve been waiting for:

Ordinarily, the fact that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton isn’t joining President Obama on his trip to Moscow next week wouldn’t be worth a second glance. The secretary of state doesn’t always join the president on big overseas trips, and she did just injure her arm.

But then you recall this story from a few days ago . . .

[Iran backstabbing speculation]

It’s supremely unlikely those leaks came from Obama’s people; for them, there’s no upside to a story that implies, “the secretary of state thinks the president is wimping out.”

We saw some foreign-policy disagreements during the primary, and now the secretary’s traditional role as the point person on all events, crises, and issues beyond our borders is being hemmed in by various special envoys and czars. Yesterday, the White House announced Vice President Biden would be overseeing progress in Iraq.

Is she tiring of him? Is he tiring of her? Or is this just the usual sand in the gears?

[Aside on czars: Assist to Rush for pointing out how undemocratic they are. No congressional hearings as for cabinet secretaries, just pure power. And Obama’s admin is infested with them.]

Ed Morrissey speculates:

I suspect that she may be tiring of him more than the other way around. As Jim notes, Hillary has options right now; she can run for governor in New York, or she can try another run at the Senate, if she doesn’t mind bumping Gillibrand out of her old seat. Obama has curtailed her reach since she took the job, promoting UN Ambassador Susan Rice to a Cabinet-level position and appointing czars to bypass Hillary in other areas.

Obama needs Hillary more than the other way around, especially as his economic policies start to tank. He needs a strong connection back to the DLC Democrats, which Hillary provides. He also needs a fall person on foreign affairs when things get bad. If there’s a split, it will damage Obama much more than Hillary, and it would set her up for a run at him in a 2012 primary, which may be her goal if Obama falls apart at the midterms.

Right wing wet dreams, or a serious rift? Maybe a bit of both, for now, but I’d bet a million Zimbabwean dollars that Hillary didn’t take the job to share it with the likes of Joe Biden, the czar of all the Iraqs. (See, Joe thought Iraq should be split into three nations, and now he’s czar, so, you see—never mind.)

And I’d wager a Chrysler dealership that Obama doesn’t trust her farther than he can throw the USS John C. Stennis.

The Battleship versus the Battle-axe. Heave-ho!