US News

Obama had doubts he would win 2012 election

He almost became America’s Quitter-in-Chief.

President Obama had serious doubts about whether he’d be successful in his re-election bid, according to a New York magazine excerpt of the new book, “Double Down: Game Change 2012.”

After getting hammered by Republican rival Mitt Romney in the campaign’s first debate in Denver on Oct. 3, 2012, a panicked Obama told advisers he wasn’t sure he could improve on his abysmal performance.

“I just don’t know if I can do this,” he is quoting as saying by authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. “I can’t tell you that, ‘Okay, I woke up today, I knew I needed to do better, and I’ll do better.’ I am wired in a different way than this event requires.”

Michelle Obama made excuses for her man too, claiming he’d lost only because “Romney is a really good liar.”

She feared his second debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, L.I., on Oct. 16 would be a repeat of the first, and demanded changes.

“Michelle was unhappy about how her spouse’s prep had been handled. There had been a late arrival in Denver, a rushed dinner at a crappy hotel. Inexplicably, he had been unable to reach Sasha and Malia by phone,” the book reveals. “He seemed over-scheduled, over-coached, and under-rested.”

Michelle Obama directed campaign manager David Plouffe to roll out the red carpet.

“If the president wants our chef there, he should be there; if he wants [his friend] Marty Nesbitt there, he should be there,” Michelle told Plouffe. “Barack’s food, downtime, exercise, sleep, lodging – all of it affects his frame of mind. All of it has to be right.”

Plouffe did his part to encourage Obama as well, and at times, sounded like a high school track coach.

“You have two debates left,” he told the president. “You’ve got basically 75 to 80 minutes left of doing this in your entire life. That’s less than the length of a movie! You can do this! I know it’s uncomfortable. I know it’s unnatural. But that’s all. That’s the finish line, you know?”