Here are two excerpts from a new e-book that is coming out from the Politico crowd. They are part of a larger narrative about Obama’s drive to win anything he attempts. You can find out who his card-playing partners are on Air Force One. I chose the following bits because they relate to Romney and the election.

‘[Obama is] the single most competitive man I’ve ever met,’ Robert Gibbs, his first press secretary, told me, adding: ‘What’s the one thing Barack Obama hates more than losing? Losing twice.’

…snip…

“One factor made the 2012 grind bearable and at times even fun for Obama: he began campaign preparations feeling neutral about Romney, but like the former governor’s GOP opponents in 2008 and 2012, he quickly developed a genuine disdain for the main. That scorn stoked Obama’s competitive fire, got his head in the game, which came as a relief to some Obama aides who had seen his interest flag when he didn’t feel motivated to crush the opposition. Obama, a person close to him told me, didn’t even feel this strongly about conservative, combative House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, the Hill Republican he disliked the most. At least Cantor stood for something, he’d say.

“When he talked about Romney, aides picked up a level of anger he never had for Clinton or McCain, even after Sarah Palin was picked as his running mate. ‘There was a baseline of respect for John McCain. The president always thought he was an honorable man and a war hero,’ said a longtime Obama adviser. ‘That doesn’t hold true for Romney. He was no goddamned war hero.’”

So, the president is focused on Romney and he wants to beat him like a drum. Personally, I find it interesting that the people who actually compete against Romney in the political field all seem to develop a rather active dislike for the man. And it doesn’t seem to matter whether they win or lose to Romney; they hate him just the same.

I feel kind of the same way. At first, I just thought he was a timid politician with a lot of money who might be a little more rational and moderate than his competitors. I gradually came to think of him differently, and eventually much differently. Now, I just think he’s (for lack of a more accurate word) a dick.

He’s just not a nice person. He’s very arrogant. He’s very insulated. He lacks basic instincts for decorum and politeness. He’s the kind of person who is as likely to insult you unintentionally as intentionally, and you’re often left wondering whether he said something to be mean or just because he’s clueless.

And the more you learn about him and his achievements, the less there is to admire.

Finally, there is something fundamental missing from Romney. There’s this emptiness to him. Contrast him to Joe Biden who seem to always be all there. This goes far beyond the aloofness you sometimes sense from Obama. It’s not that Romney just wants to be alone with himself. It’s more that you cannot detect any core to Romney. There is no bottom line from which he won’t deviate.

In the end, he’s just a thoroughly unlikeable person. You can sense that he doesn’t have many friends.