In “The Obamas,” New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor describes the first lady as transforming herself from a skeptical Washington outsider, who at first did not want to move into the White House after her husband’s historic victory, into a formidable presence who occasionally bests his staff in policy debates and often makes decisions without regard for political consequences.
On Friday, White House officials strongly disputed the characterizations made in the 329-page book, which will go on sale next week and was excerpted in Saturday’s New York Times. The Washington Post independently obtained a copy Friday.
Eric Schultz, a White House spokesman, said the book reflected Kantor’s “own opinions” and called it “an overdramatization of old news . . . about a relationship between two people whom the author has not spoken to in years.”
Kantor interviewed the Obamas in 2009 for a New York Times magazine cover story about their marriage, but she did not speak to them again for her book, Schultz added.
“The emotions, thoughts and private moments described in the book, though often seemingly ascribed to the President and First Lady, reflect little more than the author’s own thoughts,” he said, referring to the anecdotes as “second-hand accounts.”
In her end notes, Kantor states that the work is a product of hundreds of hours of interviews with more than 200 people, including 33 current and former White House officials and cabinet members, friends and relatives, former neighbors, employees and colleagues, as well as the Obamas. Some spoke for attribution, others on the condition of anonymity, Kantor discloses.
In an interview with Chicago Magazine this month, Kantor said: “I wouldn’t trade that for a quick interview with the president, because I’m not sure he’s at liberty to discuss the real questions I asked in this book. In a way, it goes to Barack Obama’s own predicament as president: He’s such a gifted storyteller. Yet can he really tell his own story anymore?”
White House officials had been grumbling about the Kantor book for months, expressing concern that it would dwell on internal conflict and expose rifts between the West Wing and the First Lady’s operation. As with the publication of previous works – most recently a book by Ron Suskind – they complained that their colleagues, especially former colleagues, would air their grievances to a reporter so freely. And they rolled their eyes at what they described as the “pop psychology” nature of a book billed as an inside look at the Obama marriage.
Loading...
Comments