Barack Obama’s book will NOT be published before the election as ex-president tells donors he is ‘p***ed off by Donald a Trump calling COVID ‘kung flu’
- Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama inked $65 million offer for books
- Former president now considering publishing two volumes with one coming out after the election
- Former president has also counseled Biden to trim his speeches and tweets
- Said he doesn’t want Trump to ‘promote anti-Asian sentiment’ with his repeated comments about the coronavirus
Former President Barack Obama is shifting publication of his high-advance memoir until after the election, as he continues to balance his desire to promote former vice president Joe Biden’s chances without stepping on his message.
The decision comes as Obama, the subject of repeated attacks by President Donald Trump three years into his term, seeks both to boost the chances of Democrats in November while preserving his own legacy.
His book, negotiated as part of a mammoth $65 million deal with Random House that also includes former First Lady Michelle Obama, could not come out around Christmas-time, the New York Times reported.
Former President Barack Obama highly-anticipated book, the subject of a lucrative publishing deal, has been pushed off until after the elections
One idea is to split it into two volumes, after Obama turned in a draft of up to 800 pages until the start of the year — deemed too soon to get it out before the elections.
Obama has picked his openings for when to go after Trump publicly.
During a zoom fundraiser where he helped former Vice President Joe Biden haul in campaign cash, Obama blasted Trump for using the racist term ‘kung flu’ to refer to the coronavirus.
‘I don’t want a country in which the president of the United States is actively trying to promote anti-Asian sentiment and thinks it’s funny. I don’t want that. That still shocks and pisses me off,’ Trump said, according to the Times.
Obama decried President Trump for his use of the term ‘kung flu,’ according to a source
‘I am writing every word myself, and that’s why it’s taking longer,’ Obama reportedly told a friend, noting that former first lady Michelle Obama had a ghost-writer
He has shared misgivings about the book process, even as he has thrown himself into a Hollywood film production company. An associate says Obama told them: ‘Let’s just say my golf game is going a lot better than my book.’
Obama was a successful author with ‘Dreams from My Father,’ but has taken to ribbing his wife with her successful publication of ‘Becoming’ in 2018.
‘She had a ghostwriter,’ Obama reportedly told a friend. ‘I am writing every word myself, and that’s why it’s taking longer.’
In addition to helping Biden haul in campaign cash, Obama has counseled the notoriously long-winded former senator to trim his speeches and tweets. Biden has been carrying out a strategy that leaves much of the spotlight to Trump and has Biden up in the polls.