'JEALOUS' REV. AL BLASTS BARACK
By FREDRIC U. DICKER

THE Rev. Al Sharpton has launched a "big-time" effort to tear down Illinois Sen. Barack Obama as a candidate for president, The Post has learned.
"He's saying that Obama never did anything for the community, never worked with anybody from the community, that nobody knows the people around him, that he's a candidate driven by white leadership," said a prominent black Democratic activist who knows Sharpton.

"When it comes to Al's attacks on Obama, frankly, I don't know where to begin," said the activist, who supports Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The high-profile, self-promoting Sharpton ran for president in 2004, but had a dismal showing in the Democratic primaries.

Sharpton has also been involved in a longtime and highly publicized rivalry for recognition as the nation's leading African-American political activist with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, also a former Democratic presidential hopeful.

Obama, a polished Harvard-educated lawyer, puts forth a drastically different image from the street-smart high-school grad Sharpton.

"It's driving Al crazy that Obama is as impressive and popular as he is, and he's not happy about it," said another black Democratic activist. "Sharpton is just terrified of being overshadowed by someone of Obama's class and character."

Sharpton also has a personal ax to grind, a source close to him said.

"Al had wanted to run again for president in 2008," the source said, "but now that Obama is a serious candidate in the race, that has become impossible."

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Meanwhile, Obama has "taken the steam out" of Clinton's support among African-American voters, upsetting her core campaign strategy, Democratic activists agree.

"Just look at Obama's Friday-night [fund-raising] event in Manhattan: Every prominent name in the black community, with the exception of elected officials and Al Sharpton, was part of it," said a prominent New York official.

"Obama is a transcendent candidate in the minority community. Everybody is proud of him.

"Hillary and Bill Clinton, by contrast, continue to churn out the same kind of stuff as they did in the 1990s, and people are tired of it.

"How many positions does Hillary have on the war in Iraq? Every statement she makes is nuanced or hedged. It is feelingless and emotionless, and people see that."

The official, who has strong ties to the Clintons and is prominent in Democratic circles, said Obama's growing popularity "has clearly taken the steam out of Hillary's campaign. "The plan was for Hillary to be the glamour candidate who would start the race with the votes of African-Americans and Hispanics already in the bag.

"That clearly hasn't happened. Her attacks on Obama were a big mistake, and now she is basically like other white candidates, such as John Kerry or Al Gore, who had very little experience in minority communities.

"As a result, she's kind of out there splashing around in the waters, being forced to go into places where she shouldn't have had to go."