GOP Offered $10K to Prove Ayers Authored Obama Book

He remembers being warned that people wouldn't like him

(NEWSER) - Pundits love to offer up psychological assessments of the president, writes Walter Shapiro on Politics Daily , but few of them think to return to Barack Obama’s own autobiography, Dreams From My Father. Shapiro, reading the book for the first time, finds that no one could have predicted Obama’s problems better than Obama himself did in the book. In one telling passage, Obama recalls a piece of advice given to him as he started community organizing: “Barack, you’ve got to stop worrying about whether people like you. They won’t.” More»

Clinton was still in contention in June: new memoir

(NEWSER) - The Obama campaign seriously considered Hillary Clinton for vice president, but ultimately the perception that her husband was "too big a complication" combined with bad memories from the primary campaign to sink her chances. Barack Obama “said if his central criterion measured who could be the best VP, she had to be included in that list," writes campaign manager David Plouffe in a new memoir, The Audacity to Win. More»

McCain team wrote 'palling around with terrorists' line: book

(NEWSER) - Sarah Palin was actually on message when she attacked Barack Obama’s relationship with former Weatherman Bill Ayers during last year's campaign, the Atlantic reports. A new book, The Battle for America, reveals that Palin received an email from top McCain staff suggesting she use the Ayers attack. It even specified the approved language. Strategists also planned to run a similar TV ad. More»

Obama's former liabilities joke about their roles

(NEWSER) - Two of the toughest thorns in Barack Obama's side during the presidential campaign joined together in Chicago yesterday for the first time, the Tribune reports. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright and William Ayers shared a stage at a kickoff rally for a march for Mideast peace. It was their work on the issue, not their lightning-rod status, that got them invited to the event, organizers said. “We can't be squelching viewpoints because they are unpopular or because someone has a reputation through Fox News,” said one. More»

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama will be “the best president he can be,” Bob Dylan tells the Times of London, though he has “no idea” if Obama will actually be good at the job. “Most of those guys come into office with the best of intentions and leave as beaten men,” Dylan says. “It’s like they all fly too close to the sun and get burned.” More»