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(Excerpted)
In his new book, Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer David J. Garrow delves into the former president’s past, and uncovers a relationship that may come as a shock to the American public.
While researching the former president, Garrow came into contact with one of his ex-girlfriends, Sheila Miyoshi Jager, who lived with Obama and says she turned down two of his marriage proposals.
1. Obama Proposed to Jager Long Before He Met Michelle, the Author Says
According to Garrow, Obama met Yager in the mid-80s while doing community organizing in Chicago, and lived with her in his early 20s. In her interview with the Pulitzer prize-winning author, Jager says, “In the winter of ‘86, when we visited my parents, he asked me to marry him.” Jager’s parents would not allow them to get married, however– they feared their daughter was too young, only 23 at the time.
Despite Jager’s parents’ opposition to the marriage, the couple did not immediately split up. They continued dating until Obama’s attention shifted to a run for presidency. Jager tells Garrow, “He became. . . so very ambitious, very suddenly… I remember very clearly when this transformation happened, and I remember very specifically that by 1987, about a year into our relationship, he already had his sights on becoming president.”
When Obama was leaving for Harvard Law School, Jager says he proposed to her once again and asked her to come with him to Cambridge, but she chose to follow through with her planned research trip to Seoul. Jager tells Garrow she believes Obama made the proposal “out of a sense of desperation over our eventual parting and not in any real faith in our future.”
2. Author David Garrow Claims Obama Dated Jager While Dating Michelle
Michelle and Barack met in the summer of 1989– that same year, they went on their first date. Michelle was assigned to mentor Barack at the law firm Sidley & Austin, where she had just completed her first year as an associate.
In his book, Garrow reports that Barack and Jager continued to see one another “irregularly throughout the 1990-91 academic year, notwithstanding the deepening of Barack’s relationship with Michelle Robinson.”
The Independent writes, “… Obama met Michelle… they soon found themselves in a serious relationship… However, Jager was not completely out of the picture as she was soon to arrive at Harvard on a teaching fellowship.”
In her interviews for the book, Jager tells Garrow, “I always felt bad about it.”
After Barack and Michelle tied the knot, Jager’s relationship with the former president was limited to infrequent phone calls and letters.
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Bad about what? And who the heck cares, anyway.
