Shocka! Obama 'Picture Perfect' Marriage Wasn't Always So

Most would call it a marriage of convenience. Of course the media would like you to believe these two are passionately in love.

Sure.

Barack and Michelle Obama may look like the picture of wedded bliss, especially when they jet off to New York for a date night, but it wasn't always so for the First Couple.

In the new book "Renegade," about Obama's barrier-breaking run for the presidency, author Richard Wolffe recounts a stretch in 2000 when the Obama's marriage was a lot frostier than it appears today.

"There was little conversation and even less romance," Wolffe, who covered Obama's campaign for Newsweek magazine, wrote of that period. "She was angry at his selfishness and careerism; he thought she was cold and ungrateful."

At the time, Obama was a young state senator who had decided to run a Democratic primary against incumbent Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Chicago) - a contest Obama lost by a dismal 2-1 margin. Michelle was a new mom with two-year-old Malia at home and Sasha, born in June 2001, not far off.

"She hated the failed race for Congress in 2000, and their marriage was strained by the time their youngest daughter, Sasha, was born," Wolffe wrote. "Politics seemed like a waste of time to Michelle."

Vera Baker remains unavailable for comment.

'He Can't Keep His Mouth Shut'

Poor Bammy. Stuck with Gaffe-master Joe Biden as his VP.

Dude, you made the choice. Deal with it.

President Obama is so "distracted by his vice president's indiscipline" that he has been forced to rebuke privately Vice President Joe Biden, according to a new book by Newsweek journalist Richard Wolffe, who interviewed Obama a dozen times.

"He can't keep his mouth shut," Wolffe quotes a "senior Obama aide" as saying of the gaffe-prone Biden in "Renegade: The Making of a President," set for release June 2.

As evidence, Wolffe reports that during the presidential transition period, Biden insulted Valerie Jarrett, one of Obama's closest friends and confidantes. Jarrett had been considered Obama's top choice to fill his vacated Senate seat in Illinois, but took herself out of the running just hours after Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich allegedly told a wiretapped conference call he would not heed any Obama recommendation without a payoff.

"Soon after Jarrett pulled out of consideration for the Senate seat, the senior transition team met to discuss cabinet picks," Wolffe writes. "Biden tried to compliment Jarrett after one contribution. 'You should be in the Senate,' he quipped. After the meeting, as everyone returned to their offices, Obama stopped Biden to warn him not to say anything like that again. 'It's not funny,' he told him."

It certainly wouldn't be a surprise if Obama looks elsewhere for a VP candidate for the 2012 election.

Meanwhile, in what's sure to drive the left crazy, as well as many Republicans who'd rather ignore the era of Reagan, Obama reportedly had praise for the 40th POTUS.

Although Obama was ranked as the most liberal member of the Senate by National Journal magazine, he had high praise for former President Ronald Reagan, a staunch conservative.

"Reagan would probably go down as a great president," Wolffe quotes Obama as saying. "I don't think there's any doubt that Ronald Reagan had a profound effect on our economy, on our politics, on our culture."