Plagiarist in Chief?

There's been a lot of speculation, particularly by Jack Cashill on The American Thinker web site, that Barack Obama's acclaimed Dreams from My Father is actually the work of his good friend, former Weatherman terrorist Bill Ayers. The speculation gathered steam recently when Christopher Andersen revealed in Barack and Michelle that Michelle sent Bill Ayers the notes and family recordings from which Dreams from My Father emerged. Now Chicago blogger (Backyard Conservative) Anne Leary reports that in a chance meeting at Reagan International Airport in Washington D.C. yesterday, Ayers admitted his authorship to her:

"Then, unprompted he said--I wrote Dreams From My Father. I said, oh, so you admit it. He said--Michelle asked me to. I looked at him. He seemed eager. He's about my height, short. He went on to say--and if you can prove it, we can split the royalties. So I said, stop pulling my leg. Horrible thought. But he came again--I really wrote it, the wording was similar. I said I believe you probably heavily edited it. He said--I wrote it. I said--why would I believe you, you're a liar.

He had no answer to that. Just looked at me. Then he turned and walked off, and said again his bit about my proving it and splitting the proceeds."

Is Ayers a liar?...most likely, but liars sometimes speak the truth. Is Obama a plagiarist? The evidence certainly points in that direction. And that puts the president in the congenial company of his vice-president...and the late Senator Edward Kennedy.