Fact Check

Obama's Make-Believe Life

Was a 'Wall Street Journal' editorial about Barack Obama's 'Make-Believe Life' written by Eddie Sessions?

Published Feb. 8, 2010

Claim:

Claim:   A Wall Street Journal editorial about Barack Obama's "Make-Believe Life" was written by Eddie Sessions.


INCORRECTLY ATTRIBUTED


Example:   [Collected via e-mail, February 2010]


Wall Street Journal Article on Obama
Thu, January 28, 2010 10:12:42 PM

Article from the Wall Street Journal Forum by Eddie Sessions:

Obama's Make-Believe Life

I have this theory about Barack Obama. I think he's led a kind of make-believe life in which money was provided and doors were opened because at some point early on somebody or some group took a look at this tall, good looking, half-white, half-black, young man with an exotic African/Muslim name and concluded he could be guided toward a life in politics where his facile speaking skills could even put him in the White House.

[Rest of article here.]


 

Origins:   The above referenced opinion piece about Barack Obama's "Make-Believe Life" has been widely circulated with an attribution indicating it to be a Wall Street Journal article authored by one Eddie Sessions. However, this piece was not published in either the print or online edition of that newspaper, nor that it was written by anyone named Eddie Sessions. (Possibly the misattribution came about because someone posted it under that name to a user comments portion of the Wall Street Journal's web site.)

This piece was actually penned by Alan Caruba, who published it on his "Warning Signs" blog on 2 January 2010.

Last updated:   8 February 2010

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

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