A new biography of President Obama claims that Bill Clinton was so unimpressed with the president's performance that he called him an "amateur" and urged wife Hillary Clinton to quit her job as secretary of state to mount a Democratic primary challenge.

"Barack Obama is an amateur," Bill Clinton said, according to excerpts from the book.

The details about the book, "The Amateur," were reported first by the New York Post.

Clinton unleashed on Obama and urged his wife to challenge him in the 2012 Democratic primaries during a gathering last summer at the Clintons' upstate New York home, author Edward Klein said. He said his reporting is based on interviews with people who attended the event.

Klein is a former editor for Newsweek and The New York Times Magazine.

"The economy's a mess, it's dead flat. America has lost its Triple-A rating … You know better than Obama does," Clinton allegedly told his wife, who said she wanted to remain as secretary of the State Department in part because she did not want her legacy to including leaving a Cabinet post to pursue higher office.

The former president, who has helped campaign for Obama, and his wife have dismissed the account as false. And the White House said Klein made up facts to sell books.

At one point during the gathering at the Clinton home, daughter Chelsea allegedly arrived and agreed with the father, who said, "I want everyone to know how strong you poll," according to the book.

A recent Fox News poll shows Clinton receives better job approval ratings than Obama â€" 67 percent to 45 percent.

The April 22 to 24 poll showed Clinton had support from 94 percent of Democrats, 60 percent of independents and 40 percent of Republicans. 

Obama had support from 83 percent of Democrats, 33 percent of independents and 7 percent of Republicans. The poll's margin of error was 3 percentage points. 

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