were in the room with bill clinton when he got the news, he placed his face in his hands and shook his head and he was so upset that hillary clinton thought he was going to have a heart attack over this, what he considered to be a welching of the deal. >> host: there are questions about the book. what do you make of the claims and why not bring more people to the forefront as people who actually gave you the sources and give their names? >> guest: i think it's a very legitimate question and it's a question asked of bob woodward whose books are all anonymous sources. the game change authors the game change authors holloman and the other guy whose names escape me at the moment other sources are anonymous.

their sources are anonymous to matter. when you report on current political battles it's very hard to get people on the record because they don't want to lose their access to the people in power so i have developed over the course of many years during the books that i have written on hillary clinton, on barack obama in the last book i wrote was called the amateur, barack obama in the white house. i have a rolodex of sources to buy come to depend on who have proven to be absolutely accurate again and again and again and these people will talk to me for a variety of reasons not the least of which they like to see themselves as quite importance and close to power. but none of them will go on the record and understandably so. >> host: edward klein our guest to talk about his book "blood feud" takes a look at tensions between the clintons and the obama is.

as i guess mentions also read a previous book about hillary clinton the kennedys and other topics pretty do want to ask them questions about this book you should chance to do so. for for democrats to 025-85-3880 republicans to wait 25853881 and independents -- on twitter it says c-span wj and if you want to send a question via e-mail e-mail that's journalist c-span.org as well. mr. klein a talk about president obama the promises made before the re-election and what was kept afterward but you also bring in valerie jarrett. the president's adviser. what's her role in all this. >> i say in "blood feud" this book that valerie jarrett is the single most important behind-the-scenes adviser in the white house since area hopkins more than 70 years ago in the franklin roosevelt administration.

hopkins was a friend of both franklin roosevelt and eleanor. valerie jarrett is best friends with both michelle obama and barack obama. she lives in the white house. i mean by that she has a suite of rooms that she occupies permanently in the white house. she has a secret service detail. she eats with the president and first lady every night that they are in the white house. she goes on vacations with them. she goes to whatever meetings she wants to attend and she carries the president's message to cabinet ministers and other people in the administration. there has been no one sends harry hopkins back in the 40s who has this kind of power. >> host: you write of her from your book saying she watched over him and made him feel safe. he was her special charge, the chosen one. she focused on him does it on him in the fight -- devoted her

entire life to him and give them a unconditional love he never received from his mother who frequently abandon them as a child. >> guest: that's right. there have been several as you know biographies of barack obama and there has been a lot of speculation about the fact that his mother was not around a lot. she traveled a great deal and left him with his grandparents, his white grandparents. when she was around, he felt a great need to win over her love according to many books by showing what a great man he would become. i think in many ways he has similar relationships with both his wife who he really wants to please and valerie jarrett who is a kind of substitute mother figure. >> host: first golfer u.s. from kathy from montgomery texas on our republican line. you are on with edward klein.

good morning. >> caller: good morning. i'm so happy that you wrote this book and i just want to make a comment. they went overboard thanking barack obama would save them at the end of the day like bill clinton did for him at the dnc when he made that ridiculous speech dealing with the devil. thank you. >> guest: that's an interesting question. you know it's interesting that bill clinton has been taking some soundings in various states across the united states with democratic party chairman building a support team for hillary in 2016. he has told his friends and associates that when he speaks to his party chairman, these these democrats coming learns that the obama administration, the political people in the

obama is have been there as well and that they are looking for what bill clinton called a mini-me, a clone of obama someone who will come out of nowhere and challenge hillary for the 2016 democratic nomination. so i'm bill clinton size, there is no greater obstacle to hillary getting the nomination then barack obama. >> host: next florida, john end up in i line. >> caller: yes i i believe the great economy in the mid-90s inspired bill clinton but not because of him. bill clinton signed off on nafta and approving china being the most favored nation status of all 20 years ago and then he signed off on the repeal of the glass-steagall act which caused the great recession and we know nafta set the stage for china and other countries giving up our manufacturing jobs. our economy now is a result of bill clinton.

hopefully that democrats will get someone credible like joe biden to run and certainly not hillary. thank you. >> guest: well thank you for that question. it is interesting that bill clinton may be the single most popular politician in america if not the entire world right now. there seems to be a collective amnesia about what the clinton presidency was like. we did balance the budget as you said during the clinton years and we did do reform of welfare but that was in conjunction with a republican congress which in many ways forced its hand. what we seem to have forgotten so many americans, is that during the clinton administration and you write this glass-steagall act which allowed banks to do their own

trading which ultimately resulted in the collapse of the economy in 2008 plus even in my estimation a more important failure and that is during the clinton years nothing seriously was done about the rise of al qaeda on the islamic extreme terrorism that now is shaking the world to its foundations. so it is interesting that bill is popular wherever he goes. no one seems to remember anything from monica to terrorism. >> host: mr. klein you say he is popular but the one person he wasn't popular with was valerie jarrett. why is that? >> guest: that's an excellent question because the blood feud between these two families, the obama is in the clintons has as i said before an ideological personal dimension and one of

those dimensions is that the obama is say when they are with their friends and associates and political advisers that they don't believe and i'm saying this is what they said, the obama is don't believe that the clintons really stand for any principles. they look down upon the clintons as opportunists. on the other hand the clintons for their part look on the obama team as a bunch of amateurs, inexperienced people who seem to fumble all the great issues of our time because they don't know how to govern. so there are so many reasons why these two sides don't get along. >> host: betty from illinois and the democrats line. hi betty. >> caller: good morning. it's only snake in the stuff in the sky here -- so you know

where he's coming from. the country is so divided. it's going to hill as we say in a handbasket. it's ridiculous. you need to have more black people speaking for different things. i have have to watch this stuff and it's ridiculous. >> host: caller why do you direct a question directly to our guest? >> caller: i am talking to him. we just got done talking about the supreme court and now he's coming out with more negative stuff. [inaudible] >> host: mr. klein anything you would like to respond to? >> guest: i had a little bit of trouble hearing her. the connection was actually very clear but i think what i'm hearing is that what about all

this negativity? why is there so much negativity in this country and his my book, "blood feud" between the clintons and obama's adding fire to this negativity? i would say to your caller or our caller that i am just as patriotic as you are, maam. i feel you are right that this country is divided and what we need is to pick a leader in the white house and in congress that knows what they are doing. now the most recent quinnipiac poll that just came out i believe today says that the majority of americans think president obama is the worst president in 70 years. that's a poll. that's not my opinion. that's a poll of americans. a lot of people think this is

based on racism but because he's african-american, people don't respect him. i don't happen to share that view. i think that the opposition to barack obama by so many people and is plummeting poll ratings have to do with what i consider to be a feckless inexperienced fumbling administration that doesn't seem to be able to get its act together. >> host: mr. klein someone on twitter says if there's a feud between the obama is in the clintons they sure hide it well. >> guest: well they used to hide it well, that's true. i'm not so sure they are still hiding it well because only recently bill clinton came out publicly and said that obamacare was a flawed law. that's a big statement from bill clinton and a huge blow to president obama and a former

democratic president to say that this blog needs to be revised. on her part, hillary has come publicly and said despite the white house claim that the irs scandal is an invented scandal, but it's really not a scandal at all, that she thinks it is a scandal and it should be looked into. she almost came out and said she thought there should be a special prosecutor. these are statements by the clintons that indicate they are beginning to put space between themselves and the obama administration as they get closer and closer to the time that hillary is going to announces she's running for president. >> host: hollande is from brooklyn new york, republican line. good morning. >> caller: good morning. hi mr. klein. it seems to me that mr. president obama even though he's having trouble with the

questions he also doesn't care for mr. bush either. so if you want to put this in some kind of realm you now, it's two presidents that it dealt with sitting president and we have the one president and the house now in there something wrong with two presidents. and besides that when the clintons were in, they happen to have a very good cause. they were at a stage in life where electronics are coming out and people were just getting into that and there was a lot, a lot of money made through that. do you understand what i'm saying? >> guest: i do and i'd like to respond and say that barack obama basically, if you just get to the core matters, won the presidency in 2008 by his

opposition to george w. bush and the iraq war. that was his key platform and since then, for years, now he's in his sixth year of office, he is blamed bush again and again and again for the problems that he inherited. the fact of the matter is the fact of the matter is barack obama in my view and in the view of the clintons has caused many of his own problems. we see now the middle east going up in flames. hillary clinton urged barack obama to get involved in syria early in that war, not with ground troops but with the support of the opposition to the assad regime. and if obama had listened to hillary i think we would not be seen the spread of radical islam through serious into iraq like we are seeing today.

then there was of course the reset with russia in which the obama administration tried to make a good relations with vladimir putin. we have seen how that has worked out so again and again it's blaming the past is no excuse for not functioning well in the present and i think that the clintons feel very strongly that as bill clinton once put it and i use this as the title of my last book that barack obama is an amateur. >> host: that is the title of his last book also on hillary clinton and the kennedys. edward klein is a guess from new york in the title of his current work "blood feud" the clintons vs. the obamas. made from alabama, go ahead. >> caller: hello mr. klein klein. can you hear me? >> guest: yes, i can hear you very well. >> caller: listening to you

it's like he was incompetent and if you are incompetent he would be the prison. you have a problem because he's there doing his job. i think you all think he's incompetent but what makes you an calm -- what makes a competent and what you are doing with your book lacks. >> guest: i'm going to let other people decide whether i'm competent or not. i've been a journalist for very long time and i've written 12 books most of which have been on the bestseller list. i used to be the editor-in-chief of "the new york times magazin magazine." before that i was left foreign editor of "newsweek" so i have a long history in my field of achievement. i feel that my books have again and again proven to be true. as far as the president is concerned i'm not the only person who is saying that this is an incompetent administration. this seems to be a widespread

and spreading view among the political class even liberal democrats have been critical of the administration giving you one example. when barack obama threatened that if the president of syria crossed a red line that obama drew and used chemical weapons that the united states would take military action. that was a threat from the threat from the president of the united states. he backed down on bad after these weapons were used and in doing so lost not only personal credibility for himself but the credibility for the stature of the united states throughout the entire world. >> host: cecil is up next on georgia on the democrat line. >> caller: yes, there has been

a lot said since i've been on the phone but i think this guy just wants to make money from his books. and that's okay and that's his job to make money on his books but everyone is still talking about the red mind and hillary hasn't even decided to even run yet. we don't know what obama is going to do as far supporting hillary. >> guest: i hope you have an opportunity to read my book "blood feud" the clintons vs. the obamas because this book documents chapter after chapter, the family fight that's going on in the democratic party between

these two great families. it is not only i but many of my sources and many of the sources of other publications who have documented this growing feud and i think as we go beyond the 2014 midterm elections and start getting really involved in the presidential campaign which will happen after november, you will see a widening rift between these two wings of the party represented by obama on the left and the clintons on the centerleft. >> host: mr. klein raj are on twitter says was electing hillary of secretary of state a concession an example of keeping your enemies closer? >> guest: yes, it was. that's exactly correct. the appointment of hillary clinton as secretary of state was opposed by valerie jarrett and michelle obama on the

grounds that it would bring the clintons into the white house and complicate obama's ability to get his policies through. but in fact from obama's point of view and the point of view of his political, other political advisers bringing hillary in any way force bill clinton to silence, to not be an active opponent of the obama is. so for instance bill clinton literally signed an agreement with the obama administration that if hillary were appointed as secretary of state he would not make any speeches in foreign countries for which by the way he used to get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars, or say anything in major policy speeches that was not first

vetted and cleared by the white house. so by bringing hillary in ss would have person said, he kept his enemies close and kept them quiet. >> host: mr. klein "the wall street journal" has a story this morning taking a look at both bill and hillary's ability to raise cash from corporate sources so when it comes to your book what exactly are the clintons looking for from the obama is as far as the steel that was made for 2012? >> guest: i think at this point they have practically given up on getting obama's active support for 2016 and they have been creating what i would call a parallel democratic party organization, the clinton brand, separate from the democratic national committee which is controlled by the white house. bill has been actively involved in this. he has been putting together

policy books for hillary. he has been bringing major donors and political figures down to little rock where he has his clinton library. he has been spending all of his time putting together a campaign that hillary is going to run. in fact, he has turned over most of the day-to-day running and the policy decisions of the clinton foundation to his daughter, chelsea, who is now in charge while bill is spending his time on hillary's campaign. >> host: what about the obama campaign's database, names, donations? what has happened to back? >> guest: that's a very good question because part of the deal that i mentioned during the golf game at andrews air force base in which bill thought he had a deal with obama, part of

that deal was in addition to obama's support of hillary that he would turn over that whole database and donor base to the clintons and allow bill to nominate the head of the democratic national committee all of which obama has since reneged on. >> host: brimming 10 washington is where jamie is on our independent line. go ahead. >> caller: my name is amy but i am in bremerton. >> host: you are bright, go ahead. >> caller: i'm going back a bit. it's very hard for somebody on the west coast to get in and you aren't very kind with your phone numbers for an old lady. i want to know what your guest thinks about the current supreme court and particularly about a decision and hobby lobby.

>> host: mike or not that's a topic we are engaging in this morning. mr. klein and you can comment. we wanted to see if callers wanted to comment on your book but if you want to come and go ahead. guess why wylmack a very quick comment and say that the coverage of the supreme court decision and the reaction from the obama white house in my view overlooked the fact that the supreme court did not say that these smaller corporations didn't have to give any contraceptive health care. it was just some contraceptive health care including the day after pills which some people think is an abortion pill. but as far as contraceptives are concerned they are still covered. they are very inexpensive as well and i don't think the supreme court decision was that

radical although i certainly think the obama administration is seeing it as a big body blow to obamacare. >> host: joe from maryland, democratic line. hi. cole hello. can you hear me? >> guest: hello joe, how are you? cocoa and good, thank you. i wanted to comment on your professional author and i think when you write you some republican or whatever and that's your choice but if you look at the administration it's always been government and it's always been what it is, politics as usual. but since president obama was elected it was relentless pursuit. that's okay but to portray him as what he is, less than a president i think that's an

insult to the nation and america wake up. we are showing our hypocrisy. >> guest: i would like to comment on that and i think it's a very sensitive issue. among the african-american community in the united states as i understand it from my interviews there is a deep feeling that this president is being unfairly attacked because of his race. among whites that's not as common although a number of liberals agree with a point of view. i don't comment on that in my book because i don't think i'm qualified to do so. i comment in my book "blood feud" about the actual policies carried out by this administration, about the conflict between bill clinton who by the way is a great friend

of the african-american community so his criticisms of obama i think is very hard to say that they are racists based because he himself often jokes that he was the first black president. other african-americans have called him the first black president because he did so much good for the african-americans in this country. so this is viewed is very hard to say that this uses racial base between the obama is in the clintons. >> host: carlos from chicago on our independent line you were on with edward klein. >> caller: good morning. how were you doing mr. klein? what i'm going to tell you i have a couple of questions and then a comment and a suggestion for your guests. >> guest: good. >> caller: if you are talking from an african-american perspective and you look at both

presidents that you have talked about, past and present, my question first of all is are you republican, democrat or independent? >> guest: personally i am a registered independent. >> caller: oh you are a registered independent. okay my next question would be what prompted you to write this book and what prompted me to make this phonecall is because they say again if you look at things and as i say you are not qualified and i can understand that but as an african-american would have been shared with you about their accomplishments that our president has done? >> guest: why would like to comment on that if i may. >> host: go ahead sir. go ahead mr. klein. >> guest: okay.

i have made many trips to chicago where barack obama began his political career and where the african-american community was the first community that got behind him in a strong way to raise money for him and launched him on his political career. i interviewed many many members of the african-american community in chicago. almost without exception they are disappointed with barack obama because once he got into the white house they never heard from him again. they made phonecalls, they wrote letters, they send e-mails. they said you know here we were what they call the first people, people who were there from the beginning of his career and without whom he could not have arisen to the great heights that he has and he has forgotten them. it's not only the african-american community. i have also interviewed jewish

who have raised a lot of money for barack obama, christians who are liberal and who are very pro-obama and they say almost without exception that you know they love this man, they were happy to be behind him but that he has shown no gratitude toward them or even made an effort to bring them closer to the white house to show his gratitude. this feeling about obama is also common among members of congress. democrats and republicans alike have said they have never heard from him. he doesn't get to know them. he is aloof and detached. this is not just me reporting this. this is many journalists, both in the mainstream media, and the liberal media and the

conservative media. >> host: james from delaware, you are on with edward klein. go ahead. >> caller: i want to ask your guest to question but i want to address what he just said about the african-american view of obama. they thought he would get in there and do more towards community than he did in the reason he couldn't is because he faced a congress and no one imagined he would face. he faced opposition that no one even imagined so even if he appeared to look towards the african-american community he would be called different names. what i wanted to ask your guest is, he said earlier that there's a poll that said obama is the worst president in 70 years. does he have any idea about the last administration? where was this guy, a sleek?

does this nation by its? you have a parade of critical hacks coming along criticizing the democratic. [inaudible] >> host: that's not the case of mr. klein go ahead with your thoughts. >> guest: i'm not sure i understood the question. >> host: i think he was rehashing what was said particularly criticism of this president by congress and others particularly i guess relations with congress. that's my gathering but go ahead. >> guest: right. well the clintons feel as i have described in this book "blood feud" that obama has not shown the political talent to even try to work with this congress. for instance, let's remember that when bill clinton was president he had a republican

revolutionize -- revolution revolution on his hand and newt gingrich came in and essentially said that the president was a relevant almost. he came very close to saying that. what did bill clinton do? bill clinton rather than dig in and say well i'm just going to do what i want to do irrespective of the congress, he triangulated as they call it. he found common ground with the republican congress to do many very important things that we have already mentioned, balance the budget, reformed welfare, sons 100,000 new police officers onto on to the streets of american cities and on and on and on and so there was a political calculation on bill clinton's part that he could

work even with an opposition. this is not happen during the obama administration. there is virtually no communication between him and the republicans. i'm not suggesting for a second the republicans haven't been very critical of him. they have but you know i interviewed vernon jordan and african-american who was on the record in my book by the way, and has been a major figure in the democratic party for many many years. he said yes the republicans have made it difficult for this president but when you're elected president you expect him to lead in this leadership has been missing. >> host: and vernon jordan is a relative of valerie jarrett? larry from? larry for massachusetts him into that line. hi. >> caller: i, how are you doing?

first evolved the republicans are the ones that put us into this mess. the congress has not worked with this president throughout both of his terms. i would like you to come back on after the midterm election and see who's going to be running. these republicans are going down the tubes. trust me. i would like you to come back and listen to my comments. okay? >> guest: i would like nothing better than to come back to c-span and if they invite me i will be here and i would be delighted to talk to you after the midterm elections. >> host: mr. klein a comment from twitter about presidential advisers which i think goes i think goes to some the topics of your book. dee dee fredericks writes do believe the advisers of both president obama and president clinton came from the same exclusive think tank pull? >> guest: no, i don't.

i think president clinton's advisers came from what was called the democratic leadership council which was a centerleft group that tried to bring the democratic party away from its radical base to more of a centrist position. the obama administration has been by and large, not entirely but by and large round in his policy decisions by political people. i'm talking about david axelrod who helped him get elected. i'm talking about valerie jarrett. i will give you a concrete example of this. in my book "blood feud" i discuss the meeting that took place between bill and hillary clinton and caroline kennedy and caroline kennedy's apartment on park avenue in new york. caroline kennedy was about to take a post as ambassador to

tokyo japan and she wanted vice from hillary the former secretary of state about what she should expect. hillary told her according to sources that hillary spoke to later that, don't be surprised if your marching orders as ambassador in tokyo, not from the state department but from valerie jarrett in the white house who is essentially a political adviser, not a policy person. i think that says volumes about how this administration has been run. >> host: mr. klein to cover your book features a couple bill and hillary clinton and michelle and barack obama. talk about how they work together as a couple particularly in the political sense. tell each couple works together. >> guest: well that would take us a long time that basically i would say that as quickly as i can say this, that the clintons

have a marriage at least somewhat similar to the marriage of franklin roosevelt and eleanor roosevelt. it's essentially a working relationship very they have gone their separate ways in many ways. they don't live together often but they are colleagues and collaborators on policy as eleanor and franklin were. on the other side, excuse me. on the obama side we have a first lady and michelle obama who is best friends with valerie jarrett and who is a behind-the-scenes adviser to her husband in a way that is quite different because in many respects, the shell behaves toward her husband as though she knows better. he has said in public that she

is the boss. he often sounds at a henpecked guy i must say. i know that's very radical to say that but i think there's a lot of truth to that. these women, both michelle and valerie have an armor semblance over his policy decisions. another concrete example, bill daley was the chief of staff of the obama white house. he said after he resigned, that he and obama would come to an agreement and then valerie jarrett would go upstairs to the residents that night, spend the evening up there talking to barack and michelle and the next morning the president would come down and contravene and throw out the idea that daley had an daley resigned because he said he couldn't function that kind of white house. >> host: we talk about that already have subjects and "blood

feud" the clintons vs. the obamas. the author edward klein who joins us in new york for this discussion. mr. klein, thank you. >> guest: it's been a great pleasure pleasure. thank you for having me on. up next on booktv seyed hossain mousavian a former high-ranking member of iran's national security council talks about the conflict between iran and the united states over the past decades and suggests ways for the two countries to improve their relationship. this is about 90 minutes.

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> we have a prized seat in the front row if i can get someone to come out. good evening and welcome. i'm warren at ip either senior adviser of consumer relations and i'm happy to welcome you to this distinguished author series event featuring seyed hossain mousavian the author of "iran and the united states" an insider's view on the failed past and the road to peace. as you can see from his biography, hossein is indeed a verified insider.

when it comes to such critical things as government of the islamic republic of iran, iran's disputed nuclear program, has continually conflicted relationship with the united states and his own close personal association over the years with the two principles on the iranian side and the current nuclear negotiations president was on rouhani and foreign minister sharif. this makes hussein a perfect guest for ipi tonight because this is a tantalizing moment in the history of relations between iran and the united states, subject of his book. the two countries have been sworn enemies for the past 35 years but as many people including notably henry kissinger have pointed out, they are also two countries that have much in common, tremendous

influence and some parallel interest despite their profound differences. the current round of talks between the p5+1 and iran began with a preliminary agreement reached in november in which iran froze its nuclear program and alluded some of its most potent uranium fuel in return for several billion dollars in sanctions relief. the deadline for the agreement is july 20, a little more than three weeks from now. though there is an allowance for up to six months more if they don't meet the july date. though there are still significant outstanding disagreements over the details of an accord there has been unearthed at -- uninterrupted progress in achieving confidence building measure since november and there is intense interest on both sides in trying to make the

case. now great significance is that the president of both countries both want this deal and they both know that there are powerful opponents to the agreement in each of their countries who will take advantage of any delay to ratchet up their opposition to it. now it is not objective of the nuclear talks to settle the real differences between u.s. and iran. the purpose of the moment is to quarantine the talks around the sole issue of nuclear program and achieve agreement there. now if that should happen, one can imagine a situation where the u.s. and iran ceased being impeccable enemies and instead become intense rivals who may be able to cooperate on issues