A forthcoming e-book discusses how personal the presidential race has become.
When
President Obama talked about
Mitt Romney in recent months, "aides picked up a level of anger he never had for (Hillary) Clinton or (John) McCain," writes
Politico's Glenn Thrush in
Obama's Last Stand, which will be out on Aug. 20.
Thrush notes that Obama "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.
Of course, we suspect that Romney's views of Obama may be somewhat similar.
Obama's Last Stand is the latest in a series of e-books on the campaign
produced by Politico.
Writes Thrush 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.'"
USA Today