Maar Obama het nou gesê die “New York vriendin” is eintlik ‘n saamgestelde karakter uit verskeie vriendinne wat hy in New York en Chicago gehad het.
“Tydens ‘n onderhoud het Obama erken dat, terwyl Genevieve sy ‘New York-vriendin’ was, die beskrywing in sy memoir ‘n verskeidenheid vriendinne, ingesluit het, ook Genevieve [Cook] toe hy in Chicago gewoon het,” skryf David Maraniss in sy nuwe biografie. ‘n Uittreksel is aanlyn gepubliseer deur Vanity Fair.
“In die boek het Obama verkies om ‘n rassekloof wat hom onvermydelik geskei het van die vrou wat hy beskryf as sy New York vriendin, te beklemtoon,” sê Maraniss. In ‘n gedeelte van die boek gaan Obama en sy vriendin ‘n toneelstuk sien deur ‘n swart dramaturg:
One night I took her to see a new play by a black playwright. It was a very angry play, but very funny. Typical black American humor. The audience was mostly black, and everybody was laughing and clapping and hollering like they were in church. After the play was over, my friend started talking about why black people were so angry all the time. I said it was a matter of remembering—nobody asks why Jews remember the Holocaust, I think I said—and she said that’s different, and I said it wasn’t, and she said that anger was just a dead end. We had a big fight, right in front of the theater. When we got back to the car she started crying. She couldn’t be black, she said. She would if she could, but she couldn’t. She could only be herself, and wasn’t that enough.
“Dit het nie met Genevieve gebeur nie,” skryf Maraniss. Dit is ‘n voorval wat gebeur het, maar later, toe Obama in Chicago gewoon het.
Obama het intussen erken dit was ‘n voorbeeld van ‘n samestelling van persoonlikhede. Cook was waarskynlik nie Joods nie.
“Ek was baie sensitief in my boek om nie te skryf oor my vriendinne nie, deels uit respek vir hulle. So dit was ‘n oorweging. Ek het gedink dat die staaltjie van die reaksie van ‘n wit meisie oor die woedende swart toneelstuk ‘n nuttige tema was oor die soort van interaksies wat ek in die verhoudings met wit vriendinne gehad het. En so, wat is twee paragrawe in ‘n boek? My houding was dit sou oneerlik wees vir my om nie te raak aan alle kwessies nie… “
Broadway Books, ‘n afdeling van Random House se Crown Publishing Group, het nie dadelik reageer op ‘n versoek vir kommentaar nie.