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."
It wouldn't be Christian to hope Obama's carried off by Gypsies or run over by a bus. It wouldn't even be agnostic. So I won't. But I'm hoping Rev. Al somehow gets his wish, if only because what little sense of humor I have extends to the ridiculous.