264 Barack H. Obama: The Unauthorized Biographygeneral shipwreck of Carter’s ship of fools, but look for it to reemerge if Obama is able to seize
power over the coming months.
A FECKLESS AND CALLOW YOUTH BLINDED
BY MEGALOMANIA AND EASY SUCCESS
It was in October 2006 that Obama published a new edition of his memoir, The Audacity of
Hope. As is now widely known, the title is borrowed from a line which appears in one of his
sermons of the foundation-funded racist provocateur, the raving Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who
served as Obama as mentor and spiritual adviser for more than two decades, with Obama paying
through the nose for this dubious privilege with the majority of his charitable contributions year-
over-year. The original edition of this book first appeared in 1995. What kind of a man writes his
own autobiography when he has not yet reached the age of 35, and has accomplished virtually
nothing in life? The ominous answer may well be, a megalomaniac, a person suffering from
delusions of grandeur, like the stock inmate of a mental hospital who imagines that he is the
Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Obama appears to be aware of the megalomania which for him is
always nearby, and appears to be at pains to dispel the cold glare of these delusions with a kind of
frivolous and superficial, but also nervous and high-strung, attempt at humor:
When asked to speak in 2006 at the Gridiron Dinner — a white-tie-and-tails gathering that
brings together Washington’s political and media elites — he reached for humor to show a bit
of humility and deflate expectations. “Most of all,” he told reporters gathered for the function,
“I want to thank you for all the generous advance coverage you’ve given me in anticipation of a
successful career. When I actually do something, we’ll let you know.” (Chicago Tribune, June
12, 2007)
The American people are still waiting.