How is he so old already, at the age of 22? I have to recognize (despite play of wry and mocking smile on lips) that I find his thereness very threatening. … Distance, distance, distance, and wariness. […] The sexual warmth is definitely there — but the rest of it has sharp edges and I’m finding it all unsettling and finding myself wanting to withdraw from it all. I have to admit that I am feeling anger at him for some reason, multi-stranded reasons. His warmth can be deceptive. 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.
1984 diary entries by a New York grad student named Genevieve Cook, who was dating Barack Obama at the time. Washington Post associate editor David Maraniss’s upcoming biography of Obama delves into the president’s early romances. (via washingtonpoststyle)