Sen. Charles Schumer "betrayed" Hillary Rodham Clinton by working with other senators to make sure a Democrat would win the White House in 2008 -- actively recruiting Barack Obama to run as an alternative to his New York colleague, an explosive new book claims. Schumer and the others were concerned about Clinton's political vulnerabilities -- and New York's senior senator hedged his bets to have the strongest possible Democratic ticket for the fierce general election, the book claims.
Clinton and husband Bill Clinton learned of the wily party leader's move months later -- and the "incipient betrayal of Hillary by her colleagues in the Senate . . . would hit them like a ton of bricks in their psychic solar plexus," according to the book on the 2008 presidential race by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann.
But Schumer yesterday vehemently denied the claims made in "Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime."
"This is ridiculous. Sen. Schumer did have conversations with then-Sen. Obama long before Sen. Clinton announced and told him he would be a good candidate. But he told Sen. Obama at the time, should Clinton announce, which was expected, that he would fully back her," Schumer's office said in a statement.
"From the day she announced to the day she withdrew, he was a full and complete supporter of then- Sen. Clinton and gave no help to the Obama campaign."
According to the book, which hits stores tomorrow, Schumer and Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid were part of a band of senators who thought Clinton would spell trouble for the Democratic ticket if she were the nominee at a time when they were frantic to reclaim the White House from the GOP. At one point, Reid (Nev.) and Schumer "double-teamed" Obama in a meeting. Clinton hadn't yet declared her candidacy when the meeting took place, but it was widely expected among Democrats that she would announce imminently.
"Although Schumer was careful to signal that home-state decorum would prohibit him from opposing Clinton publicly -- 'You understand my position,' he would say -- he left no doubt as to where his head and heart were on the question," the authors write.
The book's authors also write that during the heat of the primaries, "Chuck Schumer was up in arms, telling fellow senators that Obama needed to take a two-by-four to Hillary."
He and others were using Obama backer Sen. Claire McCaskill as a "backchannel" to relay those thoughts, they write.
But the volume gives few other examples of Schumer's actions regarding Clinton's candidacy besides the meeting he had with Reid.
According to "Game Change" Schumer had a deep rivalry with Clinton, who started overshadowing him the second she ran for her Senate seat in 2000.
"Schumer's relationship with Hillary had always been fraught with rivalry and tinged with jealousy; though she was technically the junior member of the New York team in the Senate, she had eclipsed him in terms of celebrity and influence from the moment she arrived on the Hill," Halperin and Heilemann write.
In a private conversation, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said: “The nation was ready for a black presidential candidate, especially a ‘light-skinned’ African-American like Obama ‘with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.’ ”
Clinton and Schumer had formed a better working relationship by 2006, the book says -- but by then, there were other concerns for Schumer to consider.
"Because of the circles in which he traveled, Schumer was more familiar than most with tittle-tattle about her husband's alleged infidelities. He heard people debating what Hillary should do to preserve her political viability when the scandal inevitably broke: divorce Bill or ride it out (again)?" says the book, a copy of which The Post obtained at a local bookstore.
Schumer was also "blown away by Obama's fund-raising prowess and the enthusiasm he generated in states traditionally inhospitable to Democrats . . . [and his] potential to redraw the electoral map." Schumer, Reid, Tom Daschle and North Dakota Sens. Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad joined Nebraska's Ben Nelson and Ted Kennedy in pushing Obama in "a conspiracy of whispers. They told him that 2008 was going to be a change election and that he uniquely could embody transformation. They told him he might never get a better chance. They told him this could be his time," Halperin and Heilemann claim. Hillary and Bill Clinton "were blind to the degree of Clinton fatigue in their world and deaf to the conspiracy of whispers.
"They had no idea how fast the ground was shifting beneath their feet. And neither, really, did Obama - - until his conversation" with Schumer and Reid, the authors write.
Spokesmen for Bill and Hillary Clinton declined comment.
The bulk of the book is spent on Hillary's campaign as it fell to shreds -- depicting a desperation by the Clintons that was allegedly tinged by race.
One passage claims Ted Kennedy told a friend that Bill Clinton had crossed the line trying to pressure him into backing Hillary, saying that Kennedy, to a friend, "fumed that Clinton had said, a few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee."
Reid, currently facing a tough 2010 re-election race, was also quoted talking about Obama's racial appeal as a possible presidential candidate in one of the book's most shocking revelations. According to the authors, Reid once said in a private conversation that the nation was ready for a black candidate, especially a "light-skinned" African-American like Obama "with no Negro accent unless he wanted one."
Reid yesterday said he deeply regrets his "poor choice" of words.
"I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African-Americans for my improper comments," Reid said.
The White House said Reid called President Obama to apologize.
"I accepted Harry's apology without question because I've known him for years, I've seen the passionate leadership he's shown on issues of social justice, and I know what's in his heart," Obama said. "As far as I am concerned, the book is closed."
Poster Comment:
"..."Schumer's relationship with Hillary had always been fraught with rivalry and tinged with jealousy; though she was technically the junior member of the New York team in the Senate, she had eclipsed him in terms of celebrity and influence from the moment she arrived on the Hill," Halperin and Heilemann write...