Dreams of Jimmy Choo Shoes

By Jack Cashill

I am often asked if I am writing a book on my research into Barack Obama. The answer is yes, and Simon & Schuster will release Deconstructing Obama in February. In the book, I answer the corollary questions: Who wrote the books under Barack Obama's name and is the story they tell true.

To simplify the story telling I have created a 2-minute video preview that deals with the pivotal moment when a stumbling would-be writer turned to his literary muse for help. This encounter is loosely based on the one described by Christopher Andersen in his book, Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage.

Andersen based his account of Dreams' creation on two unnamed sources within Hyde Park. As Andersen tells it, Obama found himself deeply in debt and "hopelessly blocked." At "Michelle's urging," Obama "sought advice from his friend and Hyde Park neighbor Bill Ayers." What attracted the Obamas were "Ayers's proven abilities as a writer" as evident in his 1993 book, To Teach. I imagine the encounter thusly: