Is This Quote From Barack Obama’s Memoir or Cazzie David’s?
ByRebecca Alter,
a staff writer who covers comedy and pop culture
Photo-Illustration: Vulture and Photos by Getty Images
’Tis the season for new celebrity memoirs, glossy in their hardcover jackets, gifted to members of your family that you don’t know how to shop for. This holiday season, two luminaries, giants in their respective fields, released tomes accompanied by equal parts buzz and boos, each giving unique first-person glimpses into American life. We’re speaking, of course, about former president Barack Obama and nepotism mascot Cazzie David. How, you may ask, can you tell these new releases apart? For starters, Obama’s A Promised Landis a 768-page reflection on his presidency, and David’s No One Asked for Thishas three separate chapters that are just “Tweets I Would Tweet If I Weren’t Morally Opposed to Twitter†(and said tweets? They’re bad, folks). But perhaps these two memoirists have more in common than not? Take our memoir quiz to find out.
Who Said It: Cazzie David or Barack Obama?
We give you a quote. You tell us which memoir it's from.
Yes, it was Cazzie! Though Obama did write, “I stripped myself of excess belongings — who needs more than five shirts?â€
No, it was Cazzie. Though Obama did write, “I stripped myself of excess belongings — who needs more than five shirts?â€
Yes, it's Obama writing about his love of books as a teen. Cazzie, on the other hand, points out in the introduction to her memoir that she straight-up didn't really read much as a kid: “She was a product of the ADD generation and therefore never read for fun, or even for school, as she was also lucky enough to grow up with SparkNotes, so hopefully you were not looking to be intellectually stimulated by this book.â€
No, this is Obama writing about his love of books as a teen. Cazzie, on the other hand, points out in the introduction to her memoir that she straight-up didn't really read much as a kid: “She was a product of the ADD generation and therefore never read for fun, or even for school, as she was also lucky enough to grow up with SparkNotes, so hopefully you were not looking to be intellectually stimulated by this book.â€
Yes, this is Cazzie writing about Pete Davidson, and it kind of sounds like how Barack writes about Michelle: “There was symmetry there, the way we complemented each other. We could have each other’s back, guard each other’s blind spots. We could be a team.â€
No, this is Cazzie writing about Pete Davidson. But it kind of sounds like how Barack writes about Michelle: “There was symmetry there, the way we complemented each other. We could have each other’s back, guard each other’s blind spots. We could be a team.â€
Yes, it's Obama! Cazzie, though, devotes entire chapters to navel-gazing about her own "incessant laziness," sensitivity to rejection and fear of embarrassment. As she muses, “Is regret more lasting than rejection?â€
No, it's actually Obama. Cazzie, though, devotes entire chapters to navel-gazing about her own "incessant laziness," sensitivity to rejection and fear of embarrassment. As she muses, “Is regret more lasting than rejection?â€
Yes! This is Cazzie opining on cancel culture, not Obama talking about the Trump era, though he writes: “There are people in the world who think only about themselves. They don’t care what happens to other people so long as they get what they want. They put other people down to make themselves feel important.â€
No, this is Cazzie opining on cancel culture, not Obama talking about the Trump era, though he writes: “There are people in the world who think only about themselves. They don’t care what happens to other people so long as they get what they want. They put other people down to make themselves feel important.â€
Yes! It's Cazzie writing about her mom. Obama writes about his own activist mother in a way that's remarkably similar: “For my mother, the world was full of opportunities for moral instruction.â€
No, it's actually Cazzie writing about her mom. But Obama writes about his own activist mother in a way that's remarkably similar: “For my mother, the world was full of opportunities for moral instruction.â€
Yes, Cazzie David spit-taked on John McCain at a dinner party. But can you imagine?
No, believe it or not, Cazzie David spit-taked on John McCain at a dinner party.
Yes, it's Obama! Although Cazzie had similarly spartan habits: “Up until college, I was too embarrassed to eat anything that wasn’t plain [...] So every single one of those days, I ate a large chocolate chip cookie for lunch.â€
No, it's Obama. Although Cazzie had similarly spartan habits: “Up until college, I was too embarrassed to eat anything that wasn’t plain [...] So every single one of those days, I ate a large chocolate chip cookie for lunch.â€
Yes! Cazzie's allowed to brutally mock her mother's vegetable garden, whereas Barack praised Michelle's famous one: “Generating so much produce by the end of that first summer — collards, carrots, peppers, fennel, onions, lettuce, broccoli, strawberries, blueberries, you name it.â€
No, it's Cazzie. Cazzie's allowed to brutally mock her mother's vegetable garden, whereas Barack praised Michelle's famous one: “Generating so much produce by the end of that first summer — collards, carrots, peppers, fennel, onions, lettuce, broccoli, strawberries, blueberries, you name it.â€
Yes, it's famously Obama! Although Cazzie also writes, “We all flew to Martha’s Vineyard, where we’d stay for a week.â€
No, it's Obama. Although Cazzie also writes, “We all flew to Martha’s Vineyard, where we’d stay for a week.â€
Yes, it's the Obama quote that inspired this whole thing. Cazzie writes a lot in her own memoir about her own youthful crushes, too: “He had piercing blue eyes and dark hair like Danny Phantom, who was, weirdly, the first ‘person’ I ever had a crush on.â€
No, this is the Obama quote that inspired this whole thing. Although, Cazzie writes a lot in her own memoir about her own youthful crushes, too: “He had piercing blue eyes and dark hair like Danny Phantom, who was, weirdly, the first ‘person’ I ever had a crush on.â€
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