In what may not go down well with Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama didn’t favour the current Secretary of State as husband Barack Obama’s vice-presidential nominee in the race to the White House, a new book has claimed.

According to the book, Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage, Michelle instead favoured Joe Biden, the president’s eventual choice.

“Do you really want Bill and Hillary just down the hall from you in the White House? Could you live with that?” Michelle reportedly told her husband who later appointed the former US First Lady as his Secretary of State.

Eminent author Christopher Andersen has claimed in his book that Michelle was also “fascinated” by the choice of the unknown Sarah Palin as Senator John McCain’s vice-presidential pick, according to excerpts in the New York Daily News.

The book has also revealed that it was Michelle who persuaded her husband to use the winning campaign slogan “Yes We Can!” during his 2004 senate race, even after Obama thought the phrase was “childish” and “corny” when it was proposed by his adviser David Axelrod. But, Michelle told him: “It will work. Trust me.”

Andersen, who has so far penned 28 books, including best-sellers on the Clintons, Princess Diana and Caroline Kennedy, has claimed Obama dragged his feet over marriage and that Michelle talked to friends about adoption because of early difficulties in conceiving.

However, according to the book, despite her husband’s long absences on the campaign trail, Michelle never questioned his fidelity. “He’s never given me reason to doubt him,” she said.

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