[okie01]

There are computer programs that can figure this out.

There is another important element that can be researched.

Recall that Obama had a book contract and a $40,000 advance in hand before he left Harvard. An incredibly odd occurrence, since he had never written so much as article before, much less a book. Publishers don't do this kind of thing...unless they're given a reason to.

He failed to deliver a single word. Never mind. The publisher gave him another $40,000 advance. By now, he was a guest lecturer at the Univ of Chicago -- and they gave him an office and a secretary for the express purpose of helping him publish.

Still, no book. Until he left for Bali and spent six months there...writing. He came back with a book...and the rest is history.

But this chain of events is extraordinarily suspicious -- from questions why the publisher lavished such sums on an unknown (and untried) author to who actually wrote the book, really?

If there is a suspicion that William Ayers -- or somebody else -- ghost-wrote "Dreams of My Father", a little research to determine whether they've ever been to Bali would be in order.

[bootless]

$80K in advances for a first-time author?! Holy cow.

[Interesting Times]

I'm not at all convinced that Ayers was Obama's ghost, but it seems very likely that he had one. It is, after all, a long-standing tradition among aspiring Democratic politicians...

[livius]

I’d forgotten about the $80,000 advance and the trip to Bali to “write” the book.

Maybe it wouldn’t have been necessary for Ayers or the ghostwriter to go to Bali, in any case, but was done simply to keep Barry out of the way while he supposedly wrote the book. Bali. Of all places.