The Composite Life

A few months ago, it was revealed that many of the characters in the two autobiographies written by president Obama were what the White House called "composites". In other words, the people Obama described in the history of his life were not real; they were supposedly an amalgamation af many different folks. It seemed odd that Obama would include fictional characters in a work that was supposedly non-fiction, but the claim was that this was done to preserve the privacy of those mentioned. Actually, it seems odd that someone would already have two autobiographies at Obama's age, but that is another matter. Last night in Charlotte, the first lady gave a speech in which she recounted her life together with Obama and how it all began. The problem is that she did not honestly recount their story.

Barack Obama met Michelle while working at a Chicago law firm named Sidley Austin in 1989. It is a huge firm, one of the biggest in that city at that time. Michelle was a full time lawyer at the firm; Barack was a summer associate. Let me make clear what that means: Michelle was earning well in excess of $100,000 per year at that time. The same is true for Barack. I know. I spent a lifetime in the world of first class law firms, and for at least fifteen of those years, I was in charge of hiring. I know exactly what a firm like Sidley paid in the late 1980's. Last night, Michelle told America of the poverty in which she found Barack when they first met. According to the first lady, Barack had one pair of shoes and they were too small, furniture that he took out of the trash and a car that had rust holes in it. Remember, this was a guy who was earning over $2000 per week, a salary that most Americans would be thrilled to have today, and this was 23 years ago. If one adjusts for inflation, then Obama salary would be more than $3000 per week in current dollars. That's almost enough to make Obama one of those "millionaires and billionaires' that he is constantly criticizing. Indeed, if you look at Barack and Michelle as a couple, they surely met that income level to be "millionaires". Are we believe that Obama had only one pair of ill fitting shoes? I don't think so. But it gets worse. Obama was working at a law firm that would have required him to wear a suit to work each day. In the late 1980's Sidley might have had "casual Fridays", but the rest of the week Obama would have been required to meet the firm dress code: a suit and tie. There simply is no way that he had only one crummy pair of shoes that did not fit properly. In other words, the first lady was not telling America the truth.

Remember, Barack Obama grew up for the most part in Hawaii at the home of his grandparents. These were upper middle class folks. His grandmother was a corporate officer at a bank. They had more than enough money to send Barack to the most costly private high school in the islands. But Michelle told us last night that Barack struggled.

The truth is that the only actual struggle described last night was Michelle's struggle to keep a straight face as she made this stuff up.

America deserves better.