Rising Star

by David J. Garrow

  Gates also wrote that “we desperately need a president who will strive tirelessly to identify and work with members of both parties in Congress interested in finding practical solutions to our manifold problems,” someone who would be a “true unifier of Americans.” Gates added that “we need a president who is restrained . . . in rhetoric, avoiding unrealistic promises, exaggerated claims of success and dire consequences if his or her initiatives are not adopted exactly as proposed. Restrained in expanding government when so much of what we have works so poorly . . . Restrained from questioning the motives of those who disagree and treating them as enemies with no redeeming qualities.” It was a devastating verdict on Barack’s presidency from a figure of unchallenged international stature who for over two years had worked alongside him for better and for worse.

  As 2015 turned to 2016, denunciations of the United States’ glaring failure in Syria increased even further. The Post’s Jackson Diehl thought Barack’s stubbornness had reached the point of being “untethered from reality.” The Post’s editorial board decried how “Putin is reveling in the geopolitical victory handed to him by the Obama administration,” whose “passivity” allowed Putin “to act as he chooses.” Lamenting “the absence of American leadership,” former Democratic senator Joe Lieberman dramatically disclosed what one European head of government had told him the United States needed to do: “Elect a president who understands the importance of American leadership in the world.”51

  As if Bob Gates’s Washington Post op-ed was not enough, Barack’s other former Republican cabinet member, four-year secretary of transportation Ray LaHood, weighed in as well. In a memoir of his years in politics, LaHood wrote, “I do not believe the White House ever committed fully to a genuine bipartisan approach to policy making.” As president, “Obama depended almost exclusively on a handful of folks” inside the White House, and Barack “rarely sought counsel outside that group. . . . As time passed, the president seemed to me to become more isolated, more insulated from those outside the in-group, less engaged with others.” In Politico, another once-supportive Republican rued “the ugly partisanship” that had permeated “these long, bitter, brutal years” of Barack’s presidency. But “I don’t think he really tried all that hard” to remedy that, “and even if he did, he failed spectacularly.”

  On February 10, 2016, the ninth anniversary of his announcement for the presidency outside the Old State Capitol, Barack returned to Springfield to address the Illinois General Assembly and visit briefly with old friends of both parties from years past. “When he saw me, he gave me a big hug,” former Republican state senator Dave Sullivan recounted, and perhaps only in Springfield could Barack find a Republican whom he would hug. Speaking to the legislature, Barack warmly recalled former Senate president James “Pate” Philip and commended still-sitting Republican senators Christine Radogno and Dave Syverson for how they had all worked well together years earlier. Barack conceded “my inability to reduce the polarization and meanness in our politics,” but when old friends Kirk Dillard, Denny Jacobs, and Larry Walsh joined Barack for a public Q&A at a nearby arts center, Barack disclaimed responsibility for why the nation’s politics were now so much more vile than the Illinois statehouse’s fifteen years earlier. “It’s not like I changed. I’m the same guy now that I was then,” Barack asserted. “The interpersonal stuff makes a huge difference,” Barack rightly noted. “I’ve gotten to know George W. Bush quite well” and “he’s a good man.” Even in the U.S. Senate, “I had very good relationships and friendships with” Republican senators “who now can’t take a picture with me. It wasn’t like I changed,” Barack insisted, yet his years in the White House had witnessed virtually none of the bipartisan outreach he had practiced once upon a time with Sullivan and Dillard, nor any of the non-ideological Wednesday-night poker games he had played with conservative Democrats Jacobs and Walsh.

  More than five decades earlier, Norman Mailer had pinpointed the “elusiveness” of another president, “the detachment of a man who was not quite real to himself,” one who would come to epitomize presidential toughness while achieving what success he did thanks to a rich cast of senatorial friends and journalistic buddies. In Washington, Richard Wolffe, who had by far the best camaraderie with Barack of any reporter, had come to grasp what Genevieve and Sheila had realized about Barack years earlier, “that he willed himself into being.” In Springfield too a perceptive woman understood how Barack “is an invention of himself.” But it was essential to appreciate that while the crucible of self-creation had produced an ironclad will, the vessel was hollow at its core. “You didn’t let anyone sneak up behind you to see emotions—like hurt or fear—you didn’t want them to see,” Barack long ago had taught himself, yet hand in hand with that resolute self-discipline came a profound emptiness. “I had no idea who my own self was,” Barack had realized at Punahou, and while he had indeed “willed himself into being”—as an African American man, as a loving father, and as a successful politician—eight years in the White House had revealed all too clearly that it is easy to forget who you once were if you have never really known who you are.52

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  More than twenty years ago, in the acknowledgments for Liberty and Sexuality, I wrote that books like that, and this, fundamentally depend on “the kindness of strangers.” Many of the more than one thousand people who took the time to speak with me for Rising Star are no longer strangers, and a number of the most important and most helpful have become personal friends, yet there is no gainsaying how a book as long and detailed as this one comes into existence only because of the assistance of hundreds and hundreds of people—interviewees, research assistants, and especially librarians and archivists worldwide.

  Unlike some authors, I do one hundred percent of my own interviewing, reading, and note taking, and I will not repeat here the names of everyone listed in the bibliography who was kind enough to speak with me, whether in person, by telephone, or by e-mail. Early on in this nine-year project, thanks to Chris Stansell and Jane Dailey, Alix Lerner became my first Chicago-based research assistant, contributing invaluably—never more so than when she perused the old phone directories sitting on the shelves of Regenstein Library. When Alix left Hyde Park to begin graduate study at Princeton, Chris thankfully introduced me to U of C Ph.D. candidate Ali Lefkovitz, now an assistant professor of history at Rutgers University–Newark, who suffered through hours and hours of microfilm review in obscure libraries but who also accompanied me on an utterly unforgettable interviewing trip southward from Cook County.

  Thanks again to Jane, after Ali completed her doctorate, U of C Ph.D. candidate Sarah Miller-Davenport stepped in in Ali’s stead, and after Sarah accepted a lectureship at the University of Sheffield, my dear friend Dennis Hutchinson recruited Italia Patti—a 2014 U of C Law School J.D. who is now clerking on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit—to complete my Chicago research work. Very early on, Mike Klarman kindly lent me his Harvard Law School research assistant, Jenn Schultz (now a senior associate at Goodwin Procter LLP), for Harvard library work, and some years later wonderful Beryl Satter recruited Christopher Witrak to do some very savvy library work for me in New York City. Very late in the game, superb Steve Smith from Montreal performed yeoman picture-taking in central Harlem.

  Many journalists, writers, and scholars whose earlier works have touched on one or another part of this huge story shared information and advice. Liza Mundy, Janny Scott, and Sally Jacobs top this list, but it is long indeed: Jim Kloppenberg, Rachel Swarns, Jim Meriwether, Tom Shachtman, Tenisha Armstrong, Edgar Tidwell, Phil Dougherty, Verica Jokic, John Conroy, Nancy Hewitt, Alan Brinkley, Dick Powers, Evan Gahr, Jim Sleeper, Nan Rubin, Al Brophy, Scott Helman, Larry Gordon, Serge Kovaleski, Bob Secter, Hank DeZutter, David Moberg, Ted McClelland, Eleanor Kerlow, Kurt Andersen, Randy Kryn, Becca Williams, Mark Johnson, Nancy Benac, Peter Wallsten, Lawrence Hurley, Will Saletan, Jacob Weisberg, David Shribman, Ken Gormley, Mike Leahy, Stanley Kurt
z, and Jerome Corsi. Jamie Weinstein shared with me some invaluable files, and Robert Draper kindly gave me his notes from some pioneering, early interviews.

  From Amsterdam, Arlette Strijland at Atria sent me copies of Ann Dunham’s unpublished writings; in Hawaii, Carlyn Tani and Kylee Mar at Punahou were especially helpful, as were Bron Solyom and Ellen Chapman at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Ian Mattoch, Emme Tomimbang, Joanne Corpuz, Andrew Walden, and multiple staff members at the Hawaii State Library all aided me too as did Mark Davis and Fred Whitehead. Susan Corley, Alec Williamson, Tom Topolinski, Mark Hebing, Keith Peterson, and Pete Vayda all provided instructive items, and archivists at a trio of institutions—Nicole Dittrich and Nicolette Dobrowski at Syracuse University; Peter Berg and Peter Limb at Michigan State University; and Steven Fullwood, Mary Yearwood, and Chris McKay at the Schomburg Center—all helped provide invaluable documents concerning Barack H. Obama Sr.

  Of all the people who devoted scores of hours to aiding and coaching me on this huge project, none revealed a more pure spirit than the late Zeituni Onyango Obama, who welcomed me to her modest Boston abode and then patiently showered me with scores of e-mails, explaining the intricacies of her family’s history in Kenya and beyond, prior to her untimely passing in April 2014 at age sixty-one. I recall her voice fondly, and with tears.

  In Eagle Rock, the kindness of Jean Paule and the efforts of Jim Jacobs were especially helpful, as were the contributions of Dale Stieber, Vanessa Zendejas, Debra Plummer, and Kyle Herrara. Adam Sherman, Susan Keselenko Coll, and John Drew all shared items from long ago, but my greatest Occidental debts without question are owed to Margot Mifflin and Phil Boerner, both of whom time and again shared with me memories and reached out to others on my behalf, easing my path with people who had learned all too well that many callers came with hidden agendas either political or pecuniary.

  Beginning in May 2010, Alex McNear extended to me her trust, welcoming me into her home and sharing with me almost in full the letters she had retained from 1982 to 1984. In September 2012, Genevieve Cook (whose present-day surname is omitted from this book) similarly entrusted me, hosting me and my spouse at her and her partner’s home, and then sharing in toto the letters she had retained from 1985 to 1986. Andy Roth and Keith Patchel were invaluably helpful, as were Jeremy Feinberg and Greg Poe. Jocelyn Wilks and Tara Craig at Columbia University, Sydney Van Nort and Samuel Sanchez at City College, and Derick and Jeremy Schilling all aided my research as well. If there was a gold medal for reference librarians, it would go to Theresa McDevitt at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, who found the rarest thing of all, and Glee Murray then unearthed similar items.

  In Chicago, my innumerable debts stretch literally from Altgeld Gardens and Hegewisch to the Evanston border. Greg Galluzzo, Mike Kruglik, Jerry Kellman, Paul Scully, and especially Ken Rolling all willingly gave me hours of their time on multiple occasions, and no single comment has more enriched this book than Greg’s recommendation that I contact Mary-Ann Wilson, whose file folder from 1986 to 1987 introduced me to a new world of wonderful people. Roberta Lynch, Dick Poethig, Robin Rich, Adrienne Jackson, Eva Sturgies, Rick Williams, David Kindler, Ed Grossman, Joan Keleher, and Gabriela Franco at St. Victor Parish all unearthed items from years past. Jeremiah Wright, Mike Pfleger, and terrific Hermene Hartman all kindly vouched for me to parishioners and colleagues, and when Jeremiah first referred to me as “Brother Garrow,” I knew once again who was still blessing me. Ivey Matute-Brooks and Charles Lofton likewise helped me, as did Anita Beard, Gregory Callaway, Pandwe Gibson, Lisette Spraggins, Mary Pat White, Father Robert Cooper, Rachel Mikva, Dorothy Shipps, Niaz Dorry, Charlie Cray, Ben Gordon, and Robert T. Gannett. Glenn Humphreys and especially Teresa Yoder were wise guides at the Harold Washington Library, as were Michael Flug and Beverly Cook at the Harsh Collection on 95th Street. Valerie Harris does a superb job at the University of Illinois at Chicago, as did Debbie Vaughan at the Chicago Historical Museum. May the ghost of Archie Motley take revenge. Tom Joyce and Malachy McCarthy showed me the riches at the Claretian Missionaries Archives, as did Rod Sellers at the Southeast Side Historical Society, and a very special thank you goes out to now-Justice Mary Yu. Kathryn DeGraff and Kelly Gosa aided me at DePaul University, as did Harry Miller at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin; Ashley Howdeshell at Loyola University Chicago; Nicole Gotthelf at the Center for Neighborhood Technology; Lisa Jacobson, David Koch, and Quincina Jackson at the Presbyterian Historical Society; Nancy Carroll at Wartburg Theological Seminary; Julie Satzik and Jac Treanor at the Archdiocese of Chicago; and Wm. Kevin Cawley at the University of Notre Dame. Regina McGraw and Carmen Prieto valuably helped me at the Wieboldt Foundation, as did Deborah Harrington at the Woods Funds, Barbara Denemark Long at the Chicago Community Trust, Richard Kaplan at the MacArthur Foundation, and Katherine Litwin at the Donors Forum. It is unfortunate how the present-day Joyce Foundation stands apart from the helpful traditions of Chicago’s philanthropic community.

  For years and years forward from August 2009, Sheila Miyoshi Jager responded helpfully and often enthusiastically to my many queries, notwithstanding how some of them caused her to revisit or experience deep emotional pain. As a dedicated scholar herself, Sheila understood from day one the importance of historical accuracy, even when she understandably rued how it eventually would intrude on her and her family’s privacy. I believe that in keeping Sheila’s many confidences from 2009 until 2017, the best possible balance between a rightful desire to live one’s life free from paparazzi scum while accommodating the demands of history has been struck.

  From January 2010 onward, no one has been a more encouraging and buoyant historical companion than Rob Fisher. From the discovery of the first half of a long-forgotten book manuscript to his mother’s serendipitous unearthing of the second half, Rob has been tremendously helpful again and again and again. Mark Kozlowski, Gina Torrielli, Jackie Fuchs, Radhika Rao, Brad Berenson, John Parry, Adam Charnes, Trent Norris, William Terry Fisher, Joel Freid, and my Pitt Law colleague Debbie Brake all likewise unearthed valuable items from years earlier. At Harvard Law School, Nicola Seaholm, Margaret Peachy, and especially Lesley Schoenfeld were very helpful, as was Fran O’Donnell at Harvard Divinity School. Karen Cariani and Keith Luf at WGBH; Jen Christensen at CNN; Peter Filardo, Alison Lotto, and Janet Bunde at New York University; and Jeff Flannery at the Library of Congress all helped uncover previously unknown materials. Special thanks also go to David Wigdor, Steve Wermiel, Laura Demanski, Dale Carpenter, and Celeste Moses.

  My longtime friend and academic colleague Dennis Hutchinson warmly welcomed me to the University of Chicago Law School again and again, and I thank many members of the law school’s support staff for their assistance when I was working in one or another office in that wonderful building. Great Geof Stone and Tom Rosenblum both aided my Chicago research, as did Adam Gross, Michael Risch, Marty Chester, Lisa Ellman, and Peter Steffen, as well as Julia Gardner and Barbara Gilbert at the U of C Library. Jesse Jackson Jr. and Martin King were exceptionally helpful and forthcoming, and John Levi, Judd Miner, Jeff Cummings, Scott Lynch-Giddings, Marilyn Katz, Katrina Browne, Stephen Heintz, Sandy O’Donnell, Tracy Leary, Ellen Schumer, Tom Johnson, Alan and Lois Dobry, and Rob Mitchell all located valuable items from years past, as did Lindsay Booker at Echoing Green, Maggie Bertke at the Appleseed Network, and Andrew Mooney at LISC.

  No one could have been a more relentlessly helpful and instructive guide to the world of Illinois politics than Dan Shomon, who scores and scores of times introduced me to people who had never before recounted their memories. Likewise, Dave Sullivan, Carter Hendren, Jo Johnson, and Patty Schuh all invaluably aided my outreach to others. In Springfield, Kathleen Bloomberg at the Illinois State Library enthusiastically arranged the greatest interlibrary loan feat of all time, and Mike Lawrence dug through old computer files to discover invaluable memos. Vicki Thomas, Claire Eberle, and Rita Messinger at JCAR; Walter Ray and Matt Baughman at Southern Illinois
University; Dave Joens at the Illinois State Archives; Terry Martin at the Illinois Channel; Yvonne Davis at WTTW; Bruce DuMont and John Gieger at the Museum of Broadcast Communication; and Angela White at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis all helped unearth valuable old materials. William Atwood, Tim Blair, Karen Maggio, and Linsey Schoemehl all helped with my many FOIA requests to different Illinois state government entities. Judy Byrd, Ellen Chube, Jai Winston, Tara Zavagnin, and Donna Anderson all deserve special thanks, as does Arthur Miller at Lake Forest College.

  Chris Sautter, Andrew Gruber, Laura Hunter, Eden Martin, Fred Lebed, Ed Wojcicki, Jonathan Goldman, Stephen Pugh, Don Wiener, and Marv Hoffman all searched through old files to locate important items. John Kupper shared a large box of invaluable files, and Rick Ridder proved that gold can be found in Colorado basements. Terry Walsh, Pete Giangreco, Terrie Pickerill, Paul Harstad, Joe McLean, Jim Cauley, Mark Blumenthal, and Ann Bertell all likewise shared instructive items from 2002 to 2004, and Peter Fitzgerald was especially helpful.

  When this book first began in 2008–2009, Kate Pretty and John Gray at Homerton College at Cambridge University extended tangible and crucial support. My affection for Homerton remains unequaled, and I thank so many of my former Fellows, especially Peter Raby, Louise Joy, and Rich Williams for their deeply supportive friendship. Stuart Marcelle has eased my work as much as anyone, and both the Cambridge Blue and the Live and Let Live remain wonderful real ale freehouses. At the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, Dean Chip Carter supported my work on this book to a degree one would find in few places in academia. Law librarian extraordinaire Marc Silverman has contributed as much to this book as Alix and Ali, and never more so than when he unearthed Bob Elia’s identity from old property records. At Pitt, I have benefited again and again from the wonderful assistance of Patty Blake, and from the help of Sue Leroy, Amy Change, LuAnn Driscoll, Sarah Lynn Barca, Kim Getz, and Mike Dabrishus. Tom Ross, Jessie Allen, Larry Frolik, and Doug Branson have been especially supportive colleagues, as have Ed McCord and Pat Gallagher; and Tony Infanti, Nancy Burkoff, Tony Novosel, and John Stoner have greatly aided my teaching.