It sounds like Bill Clinton is not buying the unity theme. In yesterday’s Telegraph (London), Tim Shipman and Philip Sherwell report that the former president is still mad as hell about Barack Obama’s primary season victory. BC is reportedly telling pals that Obama had better "kiss my ass" if he wants any serious effort from Bill in the general election campaign. More:

It has long been known that Mr Clinton is angry at the way his own reputation was tarnished during the primary battle when several of his comments were interpreted as racist.

But his lingering fury has shocked his friends. The Democrat told the Telegraph: "He’s been angry for a while. But everyone thought he would get over it. He hasn’t. I’ve spoken to a couple of people who he’s been in contact with and he is mad as hell.

"He’s saying he’s not going to reach out, that Obama has to come to him. One person told me that Bill said Obama would have to quote kiss my ass close quote, if he wants his support.

"You can’t talk like that about Obama - he’s the nominee of your party, not some house boy you can order around.

"Hillary’s just getting on with it and so should Bill."

Does Obama want a pissed-off and increasingly erratic Bill Clinton out there pressing the flesh for him? Probably not. But he doesn’t want protracted hostilities, either. The Telegraph story comes on the heels of poll numbers from last week indicating many people think Bill Clinton is a good reason for Obama not to select Hillary Clinton as his running mate. Chris Cilizza of WashPost’s The Fix blog breaks it down.

The real question underlying Clinton’s clumsy, damaging role in his wife’s presidential campaign: Is Bill losing it? It’s worth noting that, besides Obama, Bill’s lengthy 2008 shit list includes reporter Todd Purdum, ex-Timesman and the husband of one-time Clinton press secretary DeeDee Myers. Purdum’s sin was to write a long and piquant Vanity Fair feature about Clinton called "The Comeback Id":

This winter, as Clinton moved with seeming abandon to stain his wife’s presidential campaign in the name of saving it, as disclosures about his dubious associates piled up, as his refusal to disclose the names of donors to his presidential library and foundation and his and his wife’s reluctance to release their income-tax returns created crippling and completely avoidable distractions for Hillary Clinton’s own long-suffering ambition, I found myself asking again and again, What’s the matter with him?

Purdum details Clinton’s political missteps and apparent lapses in personal judgment and wonders between the lines if Clinton’s heart bypass surgery in 2004 left him more physically fragile and temperamentally erratic. Highly recommended.