I have a different take on that. I think Obama has, for a very long time, planned on being "king of the hill." The books, IMO, were part of the carefully crafted mythology of the man who pretends to be a "post racial" uniter and unifier, but who is, in reality, a narcissist and far-left radical who has been immersed in Marxism since he learned it at his mother's knee.
Narcissists are not stupid, however, and typically believe that all those whom they intend to enthrall are not capable, or ready, to accept the ultimate truth that they, as superior beings, bring, so he dumbs it down to euphemisms and vague rhetoric designed to appeal to all those people he has utter contempt for -- not least of which are people of color. He is so enthralled with his own image, however, that the setbacks dealt by his pastor's brutal truth as to the nature of the real game afoot are enough to send him into a state of confusion, where I hope he remains for the duration of the primary.
I thought Obama's first book was the result of someone going around getting people in their thirties to produce autobiographies. I saw another book that resulted from that project, one called Makes Me Wanna Holler, by a black man explaining why he hates white people so much despite never having personally been the victim of discrimination.