Genevieve Cook: Ex-Girlfriends Kiss and Sell Their Pasts With Obama

Genevieve Cook and Barack Obama in the early 80s.
Genevieve Cook and Barack Obama in the early 80s.

Genevieve Cook’s relationship with a young Barack Obama began in 1983 at a Christmas party in New York’s East Village.

Obama was 22-years-old and a recent graduate of Columbia University. Cook was so enamored that she spent the night with him after their first date.


Should the general public know this? Should Cook be paid to tell it?


We know these intimate details about the president’s past life, of course,  thanks to excerpted entries from the forthcoming Simon & Schuster book, Barack Obama: The Story, The Story is a biography written by Washington Post reporter David Maraniss and it includes diary entries from Mr. Obama’s ex-girlfriends from his 20s, Alex McNear and Genevieve Cook.

There’s no dirt here — based on these excerpts — that indicate Obama, the private individual, differs greatly from Obama, the public individual. True to form, Obama is portrayed in The Story as a deep-thinker and a scholar.


Genevieve Cook: Exes Kiss & Sell Their Pasts with Obama
Genevieve Cook: Ex-Girlfriends Kiss and Sell Their Pasts with Obama

Genevieve Cook writes:

Saturday, February 25

The sexual warmth is definitely there — but the rest of it has sharp edges and I’m finding it all unsettling and finding myself wanting to withdraw from it all. I have to admit that I am feeling anger at him for some reason, multi-stranded reasons. His warmth can be deceptive. Tho he speaks sweet words and can be open and trusting, there is also that coolness — and I begin to have an inkling of some things about him that could get to me.

It’s unclear how much money the ex-girlfriends earned for telling their stories, but clearly there are some bigger ex-lover stories that the public would love to read about.

For example, the world would love to hear from the male Mexican immigrant who carried on a sexual relationship with Arizona’s Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu. Why? It’s newsworthy; Sheriff Babeu built a reputation as a conservative who stood against illegal immigration.

Or, how about a memoir featuring the diary entries from Marianne Gingrich who revealed in an interview that Newt Gingrich (then a presidential candidate) implicated that he wanted an open marriage? Or, that Newt “Mr. Family Values” Gingrich was so cold: “How could he ask me for a divorce on Monday and within 48 hours give a speech on family values and talk about how people treat people?”

The runaway hit on the bookshelves would be the tell-all from Schwarzenegger’s ex-lover. How was she able to conceal Schwarzenegger’s mini-me from wife Maria Shriver all of those years?

The notion of kissing and selling is somewhat ridiculous.  Everyone has lovers from the past; a presidential election shouldn’t be the time to roll them out.

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