London, June 30 : Former US President Bill Clinton has told friends that the Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama will have to beg for his full support.

Clinton is still very bitter that Obama defeated his wife Hillary Clinton in the race for the White House.

The Telegraph reported that the former President’s rage is still so great that even loyal allies are shocked by his patronising attitude to Obama, and believe that he risks damaging his own reputation by his intransigence.

A senior Democrat who worked for Clinton has revealed that he recently told friends that Obama could “kiss my ass” in return for his support.

A second source said that the former President has kept his distance because he still does not believe Obama can win the election.

Obama is expected to speak to Clinton for the first time since he won the nomination in the next few days, but campaign insiders say that the former President’s future campaign role is a “sticking point” in peace talks with Hillary’s aides.

Clinton last week issued a tepid statement, through a spokesman, in which he said he “is obviously committed to doing whatever he can and is asked to do to ensure Senator Obama is the next President of the United States.”

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

The Telegraph quoted a Democrat source as saying that Clinton has 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 has been in contact with and he is mad as hell.” (ANI)