New Book: Reid Refers to Obama as “Light-Skinned Negro” While Bill Clinton Says He Would Have Been Serving Him Coffee a Few Years Ago

While many people are chatting up a storm about Majority Leader Harry Reid reference in Game Change to President Obama as a “light skinned” black man “with no Negro dialect,” Ben Smith has pulled out two other notable sections, including Bill Clinton objecting to Ted Kennedy that “A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee.”

The remark by Clinton apparently backfired, according to the book, and enraged Kennedy. Here is the passage:

[A]s Hillary bungled Caroline, Bill’s handling of Ted was even worse. The day after Iowa, he phoned Kennedy and pressed for an endorsement, making the case for his wife. But Bill then went on, belittling Obama in a manner that deeply offended Kennedy. Recounting the conversation later to a friend, Teddy fumed that Clinton had said, A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee.

Smith also notes that the book details how Hillary Clinton pushed her staff to push Obama’s drug use as her own campaign faltered. While Clinton often accused Obama of negative campaigning, she was criticized in editorials for what was seen as scorched earth tactics, here.

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