Barack Obama sought to stamp out signs of discord yesterday as his team blamed Bill and Hillary Clinton for tarnishing the presidential transition with the type of psychological drama and leaks that marked their years in the White House.

As the uncertainty over whether Mrs Clinton would accept the job of Secretary of State dragged on, aides from both camps were engaged in anonymous briefings that echoed the bitter exchanges of their marathon primary battle earlier this year.

After the Obama camp let it be known that one potential stumbling block for the former First Lady was her husband’s overseas financial ties and list of foreign donors to his presidential library, Mr Clinton said he had agreed to all the conditions that had been sought by the transition team - including handing over a list of more than 200,000 benefactors. “I’ll do whatever they want,” he said.

Some in the Obama team saw that as a manoeuvre to box in the President-elect by forcing him formally to offer Mrs Clinton the post. Mr Obama is said to have known exactly what he was getting into when he discussed the job with Mrs Clinton during a meeting in Chicago last week, and is confident enough in himself to make such a bold gesture to his former rival. A Gallup poll showed that 57 per cent of Americans favoured the move.

The excitement that greeted Mr Obama’s victory little more than two weeks ago has not yet disappeared. But it is increasingly mingled with other emotions, ranging from frustration to a faint sense of dread.

Mr Obama has scarcely been seen this week while he puts together his administration. Instead, news has been dominated by a series of leaks about Cabinet appointments: Eric Holder for the post of Attorney-General; Tom Daschle for Health; Janet Napolitano, the Arizona Governor, for Homeland Security; and possibly Penny Pritzker for Commerce.

There was growing speculation last night that Mr Obama might keep Robert Gates, President Bush’s Defence Secretary - a decision that will be unpopular with the liberal, antiwar wing of the Democratic Party.

Such disclosures are a departure for Mr Obama’s team which for two years ran an extraordinarily tight campaign but is now struggling to maintain discipline as it moves, in the words of one senior Democrat, “from a family business to multinational corporation”.

In vain, advisers have been ordered to shut up. John Podesta, the head of the transition team, said: “If you leak, you’re gone.” Even so, murmured complaints can be heard about the number of Clinton-era officials who are being lined up for top jobs. Having campaigned so hard and for so long on a message of change rather than experience, Mr Obama appears to have reversed course in the past fortnight.

This week, though, has been overshadowed by the psychological “will-she, won’t she?” drama surrounding Mrs Clinton. It does not augur well for cooperation between his much vaunted “team of rivals” that the Clinton and Obama camps are already pointing the finger of blame at each other.

Times Recommends

• New York has lost its edge
• Copenhagen will fail – and quite right too
• More than 17,000 new underwater species found