First Lady clashed with White House aides, book says

Washington: First Lady Michelle Obama is a behind-the-scenes force in the White House whose opinions on policy and politics drew her into conflict with presidential advisers and who bristled at some of the demands and constraints of life as the president's wife, according to a detailed account of the first couple's relationship.

New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor, in a book to be published on Tuesday, portrays a White House where tensions developed between Michelle Obama and former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and former press secretary and presidential adviser Robert Gibbs.

The book is based on interviews with 30 current and former aides, though President Barack Obama and the first lady declined to be interviewed for the book.

The book portrays Michelle Obama as having gone through an evolution from struggle to fulfilment in her role at the White House but all the while an "unrecognised force" in pursuing the president's goals.

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

Resignation offer

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

By that spring, however, Kantor writes that Michelle Obama "made it clear that she thought her husband needed a new team, according to her aides". 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.