US Election: Bill Clinton to Support Obama Despite Strained Relationship

There is a big gap between what Bill Clinton will say to the Democratic convention on Wednesday night about Barack Obama and what he thinks in private, according to a source close to the former president.

While Bill Clinton will endorse Obama, he feels little warmth towards him and relations with Obama's campaign team are brittle.

"He does not feel that Obama has given him the respect due to him as a former president," a former member of Hillary Clinton's now-defunct campaign team said.

The source added that Obama should have made an effort to schmooze him after Hillary Clinton formally conceded defeat in the Democratic nomination battle on June 7.

"He should have called (Bill) Clinton and asked him for advice about foreign policy or suggested a joint appearance," he said.Instead, the two spoke only once in the weeks immediately after Hillary dropped out.

During the six-month long Democratic nomination battle, Bill Clinton proved to be less disciplined than his wife, giving vent in public to anger with the Obama campaign.

After being on the sidelines of his wife's campaign he was in the forefront in the South Carolina primary. Responding to his bullish campaign in that state, Obama's team accused him of playing the race card.

Clinton in Denver will not want to deliver anything other than supportive words for fear of being accused of undermining the election campaign.

But the US website, Politico, reported at the weekend that the former president was annoyed with the topic he has been given for Wednesday night's speech.

The theme for the evening is foreign policy whereas Politico reported sources close to him as saying he would prefer to speak about the economy, emphasizing the difference between the Bush administration's policies and his own.

This would have given him an opportunity to redress comments by Obama during the nomination battle which Clinton interpreted as a slight on his economic record.

The former president remains a formidable political campaigner and could be an asset to the Obama bid for the White House, particularly in winning over white, working-class males.

One of the reasons attributed for the failure of the 2000 Democratic candidate Al Gore was his reluctance to take up Clinton's offer of help.