I haven't read the book, but it seems to me the insinuation that Obama has "morphed" into something as if he is not the same person with the same politics and ideology he himself defines as "pragmatism" which is the ideology of imperialism that he was when he ran for president and what he is now is misleading and only confuses things more.
The fact is, Obama wrote an essay in Foreign Affairs Magazine which is the voice of U.S. imperialism if ever there was one (published by the Council on Foreign Relations) in which he elaborates a very clear neo-liberal agenda. You can read that essay, Renewing American Leadership, by Barack Obama - July 2007, here (please note the July 2007 date long before the Primaries):
http://wallstreetsfriend.blogspot.com/
Obama was intentionally packaged and sold as something he never was: liberal, progressive, left. In fact, no Democrat can win the presidency (nor almost any other elected position in this country) without liberal, progressive and left support.
There are the little issues of: ethics, morality and honesty in government and politics at play here, also--- or, more appropriately when it comes to Obama: lack of ethics, immorality and complete and total dishonesty. How else can one describe "packaging" oneself as something one is not for the purpose of getting elected by tricking people into thinking they will get one thing when the intent is to deliver just the opposite?
At the core of those involved in packaging Obama to appear to be something he was not and never had been was The Century Foundation which handed out tens of millions of dollars to organizations like the Progressives for Obama, Campaign for America's Future, American Prospect and even the Communist Party USA along with all kinds of Democratic Party "front groups."
Obama and his entourage brought in none other than Tom "poster boy for the Israeli killing machine" Hayden, Carl "I support Pol Pot" Davidson and Barbara "anyway I can make a nickel or dime off the movement" Ehrenreich and Robert "support the AFL-CIA" Borosage to do the dirty work providing Obama with a left cover.
To use the word "morphed" suggests that Obama started out with good intentions and in one way or another has been either coerced by, or sold out to, Wall Street which is far from the truth that Obama is one and the same person with the same ideology he had back in 2007; and if one bothers to look he has not deviated from this imperialist ideology of "pragmatism" since he became an adult.
To suggest that Obama has "morphed" is to suggest that he has changed from good to bad which is important to note because it conveys the idea that quite possibly he can "morph" back or change to something better.
For those of us concerned about peace, social and economic justice issues this becomes very important because we need to know if there is any possibility based upon any facts where we might expect Obama to at least "bend towards justice."
After all, do we really expect that a liberal, progressive or leftist can be elected to the presidency of the United States on the Democratic Party ticket?
I don't want to insult anyone, but it is sheer stupidity to think this is possible. We saw what happened with George McGovern--- big money Wall Street neo-liberals just withdrew their support in the middle of the campaign--- completely unlike with Obama where they just kept pouring money in--- even the Republicans!
So, the one and only thing I look for in Democrats is who might be inclined or pushed to the point of "bending towards justice"--- not because they want to but because they have to if for no other reason they want to try to salvage what they can (their profits) and save their rotten-to-the core system.
Make no mistake; Obama was, is and will always be, Wall Streets loyal servant and he was chosen by these Wall Street coupon clippers because they know Obama is completely loyal and will never, ever "bend towards justice."
I could offer an example of a current ruling class politician who would very likely "bend towards justice" but naming her would confuse the issue of whether or not Obama has "morphed."
I think it is sufficient to point out two past examples of ruling class politicians who did "bend towards justice:" Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt--- but, only once tremendous pressure from the people was applied... movements in the schools, in places of employment, in the streets being backed up in the voting booth which in turn was backed up by ever larger and growing movements in the schools, in places of employment and in the streets and so on and so forth--- slavery was ended with Lincoln and we got The New Deal with Roosevelt. We could add to this Lyndon Johnson who delivered many other far reaching reforms complimenting what both Lincoln and Roosevelt delivered... however, he chickened out in delivering peace even though the movement against the Vietnam war was the most powerful movement in U.S. history which should give us some kind of idea what it is going to take to win peace and real change against this Wall Street crowd.