Who is this woman?

Genevieve Cook, who at 25, had an 18-month affair with the 22-year-old Barack Obama.

The two bonded quickly, [writes David Maraniss in "Barack Obama: The Story"]: “She kept a journal, as he did, and thought of herself as an observer, as he did, and brooded about her identity, as he did, and had an energetic, independent, and at times exasperating mother, as he did, and burned with an idealism to right the wrongs of the world, as he did.”...

• “The sexual warmth is definitely there—but the rest of it has sharp edges. . . Tho he speaks sweet words and can be open and trusting, there is also that coolness—and I begin to have an inkling of some things about him that could get to me.”

• “Barack—still intrigues me, but so much going on beneath the surface, out of reach. Guarded, controlled.”

... “When she told him that she loved him, his response was not “I love you, too” but “thank you”—as though he appreciated that someone loved him.”

... “I guess I hoped time would change things and he’d let go and ‘fall in love’ with me. Now, at this point, I’m left wondering if Barack’s reserve, etc. is not just the time in his life, but, after all, emotional scarring that will make it difficult for him to get involved even after he’s sorted his life through with age and experience.”

Early in their relationship, Obama told Cook (who was white) about his “perfect ideal woman” — whom Cook imagined would be “very strong, very upright, a fighter, a laugher, well-­experienced — a black woman I keep seeing her as.”

By the way, in his book "Dreams From My Father," Obama writes of being openly critical of a black man with a white girlfriend:

Tim was not a conscious brother. Tim wore argyle sweaters and pressed jeans and talked like Beaver Cleaver. He planned to major in business. His white girlfriend was probably waiting for him up in his room, listening to country music. He was happy as a clam, and I wanted nothing more than for him to go away. I got up, walked with him down the hall to my room, gave him the assignment he needed. As soon as I got back to Reggie’s room, I somehow felt obliged to explain.

“Tim’s a trip, ain’t he,” I said, shaking my head. “Should change his name from Tim to Tom.”

ADDED: I get the feeling that the hostility expressed toward "Tim" was displaced hostility toward himself. It's very sad if he resisted loving Genevieve because she was white. Don't you think Genevieve resembles Obama's mother, who was white? Imagine being a heterosexual man and feeling that you weren't supposed to be attracted to a woman who reminds you of your mother. There's this alternate never-to-be-written Obama search-for-identity book titled "Dreams From My Mother."