Rising Star

by David J. Garrow

  13. Richard Wolffe, “‘Hungry for Change,’” Newsweek, 4 January 2008; Ben Smith, “Likable Enough?,” Politico, 5 January 2008; Stanage, Redemption Song, p. 82; Obama on Good Morning America, ABC, 7 January 2008; Christopher Hitchens, “Identity Crisis,” Slate, 7 January 2008; Obama on Good Morning America, ABC, The Early Show, CBS, Today, NBC, Morning Edition, NPR, and Fox and Friends, Fox News, 9 January 2008; William Jelani Cobb, “As He Rises, the Old Guard Scowls,” and David Greenberg, “Why Obamamania?,” WP, 13 January 2008; Wolffe, “Inside Obama’s Dream Machine,” Newsweek, 14 January 2008, pp. 30ff.; Obama on the CBS Evening News, 16 January 2008; David Ignatius, “The Obama of ‘Dreams,’” WP, 17 January 2008; Dan Gilgoff, “Barack Obama,” Beliefnet.com, 21 January 2008; Sarah Pulliam and Ted Olsen, “Q&A: Barack Obama,” Christianity Today, 21 January 2008; Dan Morain and Tom Hamburger, “Obama Dogged by Ties to Donor,” LAT, 23 January 2008; Bob Secter et al., “Obama, Rezko Ties Again at Issue,” CT, 23 January 2008; Obama on Good Morning America, ABC, The Early Show, CBS, Today, NBC, and Morning Edition, NPR, 23 January 2008; Jodi Kantor, “Obama’s Christian Campaign,” NYT, 25 January 2008; Jay Hancock, “Obama’s Exelon Ties Merit Close Look,” Baltimore Sun, 25 January 2008; Obama on Today, NBC, 26 January 2008; John Kass, “If You Look Closely, It’s Plain: Rezko Is Obama’s Problem,” CT, 27 January 2008; “For the Democrats: Obama,” CT, 27 January 2008; Obama on This Week, ABC, 27 January 2008; Bob Secter and David Jackson, “Funds Tough to Figure for Rezko Aid,” and Eric Zorn, “Tony Rezko, the Early Warnings,” CT, 31 January 2008; Liz Halloran, “Q&A: Michelle Obama,” U.S. News, 1 February 2008; Obama on World News Tonight, ABC, 2 February 2008; Valerie Jarrett, “Barack Obama,” CT, 4 February 2008; Obama on The Early Show, CBS, and The Situation Room, CNN, 4 February 2008, on Good Morning America, ABC, The Early Show, CBS, Today, NBC, and Fox and Friends, Fox News, 5 February 2008, and on 60 Minutes, CBS, 10 February 2008; Paul Krugman, “Hate Springs Eternal,” NYT, 11 February 2008; Margaret Ramirez, “Obama Pastor Gives Last Trinity Sermon,” CT, 11 February 2008; David Mark, “Full Text: Obama Interview,” Politico, 12 February 2008; Susan Saulny, “Michelle Obama Thrives in Campaign Trenches,” NYT, 14 February 2008; Jack Shafer, “How Obama Does That Thing He Does,” Slate, 14 February 2008; Ramirez, “Pastor Remixes Church Service,” CT, 17 February 2008; Obama on Today, NBC, 19 February 2008; Robert Samuelson, “The Obama Delusion,” WP, 20 February 2008; Robin Abcarian, “Michelle Obama in Spotlight’s Glare,” LAT, 21 February 2008; Christi Parsons and John McCormick, “Analyzing Obama’s Stump Speeches,” CT, 24 February 2008; Kenneth T. Walsh, “One-on-One with Barack Obama,” U.S. News, 25 February 2008, p. 44; Sandra Sobieraj Westfall, “25 Questions for Barack Obama,” People, 25 February 2008, p. 96; Lynn Sweet, “Before Jewish Group, Obama Distances Himself,” CST, 25 February 2008; Claudia Feldman, “An Interview with Michelle Obama,” Houston Chronicle, 28 February 2008; Obama, “‘I Will Be a President Who Draws Upon the Energy and Expertise of the Indian-American Community,’” India Abroad, 29 February 2008, p. A10; David A. Hollinger, “Obama, Blackness, and Postethnic America,” CHE, 29 February 2008; David Ignatius, “Obama: A Thin Record for a Bridge Builder,” WP, 2 March 2008; Howard Kurtz, “‘Soft’ Press Sharpens Its Focus on Obama,” WP, 3 March 2008; Obama on Good Morning America, ABC, 3 March 2008; Rick Pearson and McCormick, “Barack Obama Takes Heat Over NAFTA Memo, Rezko,” CT, 4 March 2008; Lynn Sweet, “Obama Talks a Lot, But Answers Little,” CST, 4 March 2008; Dana Milbank, “Ask Tough Questions? Yes, They Can!,” WP, 4 March 2008; Lauren Collins, “The Other Obama,” TNY, 10 March 2008, pp. 88ff.; Hollinger, “Obama, the Instability of Color Lines, and the Promise of a Postethnic Future,” Callaloo 31 (Fall 2008): 1033–37; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, pp. 197, 203.

  14. Obama on Good Morning America, ABC, The Early Show, CBS, Today, NBC, and Fox and Friends, Fox News, 5 March 2008; Darryl Pinckney, “Dreams from Obama,” NYRB, 6 March 2008; Lynn Sweet, “Obama’s Inner Circle,” CST, 9 March 2008; Christopher Wills, “An Obama-Rezko Primer,” AP, 10 March 2008; Obama on Hardball with Chris Matthews, MSNBC, 11 March 2008; Obama on Today, NBC, The Early Show, CBS, and Good Morning America, ABC, 12 March 2008; Brian Ross on Good Morning America, ABC, 13 March 2008, 7:07 A.M.; Ross and Rehab El-Buri, “Obama’s Pastor: God Damn America, U.S. to Blame for 9/11,” ABCNews.com, 13 March 2008; Paul Beatty, “Cool We Can Believe In,” TNR, 14 March 2008; Christopher Drew and Jo Becker, “Obama Lists His Earmarks, Asking Clinton for Hers,” NYT, 14 March 2008; Cass R. Sunstein, “The Obama I Know,” CT, 14 March 2008; Lynn Sweet, “Obama Lists Pet Projects, at Last,” CST, 14 March 2008, p. 4; David Brown, “Obama Addresses PA’s Importance, Pastor’s Remarks,” PTR, 14 March 2008; Jodi Kantor, “Pastor’s Words Still Draw Fire,” NYT, 14 March 2008; Obama, “Transcript of Tribune Interview,” CT, 16 March 2008 [14 March]; “Complete Transcript of the Sun-Times Interview with Barack Obama,” CST, 15 March 2008 [14 March]; Obama, “On My Faith and My Church,” Huffington Post, 14 March 2008, 4:28 P.M.; Obama on Countdown, MSNBC, Fox on the Record, Fox News, and Anderson Cooper 360, CNN, 14 March 2008; David Jackson, “Obama: I Trusted Rezko,” CT, 15 March 2008; Tim Novak et al., “More Rezko Dough Found,” CST, 15 March 2008, p. 2; Jodi Kantor, “Obama Denounces Statements of His Pastor as ‘Inflammatory,’” NYT, 15 March 2008; Peter Slevin, “Outspoken Minister Out of Obama Campaign,” WP, 15 March 2008; “Obama’s Rezko Narrative,” and John Kass, “Obama Opens Up on Rezko,” CT, 16 March 2008; Chris Fusco et al., “Obama Explains Rezko Relationship,” and Mark Brown, “Obama Cleared the Air on Rezko,” CST, 16 March 2008, p. 2; Obama on PBS NewsHour, 17 March 2008; Esther Kang, “The Rezko Refund,” CM, April 2008, p. 20; Peter Nicholas, “Obama Relies on Close-Knit Inner Circle,” LAT, 8 November 2008; Rice and Sams, By the People, Pivotal Pictures, 2009; Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, p. 235; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, pp. 41, 206–12; Alby Gallun, “Rezko Creditors Come Up Short in Bankruptcy Case,” CCB, 9 June 2015.

  15. Kantor and Jeff Zeleny, “On Defensive, Obama Plans Talk on Race,” NYT, 18 March 2008; Eli Saslow, “Congregation Defends Obama’s Ex-Pastor,” and “The Wright Question,” WP, 18 March 2008; Ron Fournier, “The Trouble with Obama’s Arrogance,” AP, 18 March 2008; Obama, “A More Perfect Union,” Philadelphia, 18 March 2008; Michael Crowley, “Obama’s Speech Was Brilliant, But—,” TNR, 18 March 2008; Zeleny, “Obama Urges U.S. to Grapple with Race Issue,” and “Mr. Obama’s Profile in Courage,” NYT, 19 March 2008; Shaleigh Murray and Dan Balz, “Obama Urges U.S.: ‘Move Beyond Our Old Racial Wounds,’” and “Moment of Truth,” WP, 19 March 2008; Ben Calhoun, “Chicagoans: Reports Misrepresent Obama’s Church,” NPR, 19 March 2008; Obama on Anderson Cooper 360, CNN, 19 March 2008; Arnold Jacob Wolf, “My Neighbor Barack,” Jews4Obama 2008, 20 March 2008; Obama on Larry King Live, CNN, 20 March 2008; Peter Wallstein, “Obama Defined by Contrasts,” LAT, 24 March 2008; Patricia Novick, “Prophets Don’t Speak the Language of Politics: A Voice from the Pews,” New America Media, 25 March 2008; William A. Von Hoene Jr., “Reverend Wright in a Different Light,” CT, 26 March 2008; Dan Nakaso, “Obama’s Tutu a Hawaii Banking Female Pioneer,” HA, 30 March 2008; Kelefa Sanneh, “Project Trinity: The Perilous Mission of Obama’s Church,” TNY, 7 April 2008; Julianna Goldman, “Obama Confidante Jarrett Wields Clout of Campaign Inner Circle,” Bloomberg, 8 April 2008; Adam Clark, “Wright’s Teachings Are Part of African-American Opposition to Empire,” Cincinnati Enquirer, 8 April 2008; Obama on Today, NBC, 8 April 2008; Dayo Olopade, “Far Wright,” TNR, 9 April 2008; Freddoso, The Case Against Barack Obama, p. 166; Rolf Nordahl, “Gramp’s Dream,” in Jacobs, ObamaLand, p. 130; David A. Frank, “The Prophetic Voice and the Face of the Other in Barack Obama’s ‘A More Perfect Union’ Address, March 18, 2008,” Rhetoric & Public Affairs 12 (Summer 2009): 167–94; Robert E. Terrill, “Unity and Duality in Barack Obama’s ‘A More Perfect Union,’” Quarterly Journal of Speech 95 (November 2009): 363–86; G. Reginald Daniel, “Race, Multiraciality, and
Barack Obama: Toward a More Perfect Union?,” The Black Scholar 39 (Fall–Winter 2009): 51–59; T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting, ed., The Speech: Race and Barack Obama’s ‘A More Perfect Union’ (Bloomsbury, 2009); Todd, The Stranger, p. 113; DJG interviews with Alec Williamson and Rolf Nordahl.

  16. Obama interview with ABC News’ Terry Moran, 19 March 2008; Dan Gross, “Obama on WIP,” Philly.com, 21 March 2008; Pamela Reid Bussard, “Barack Obama Back on St. Thomas for Golf, Relaxation,” St. John Source, 24 March 2008; Leon Wieseltier, “Oybama,” TNR, 26 March 2008; Kenneth P. Vogel, “Taxes: Obama Prospered as He Soared,” Politico, 27 March 2008; Scott Helman, “Holding Down the Obama Family Fort,” BG, 30 March 2008; Spencer Ackerman, “The Obama Doctrine,” American Prospect, April 2008, pp. 12ff.; Obama on Today, NBC, 1 April 2008, The Early Show, CBS, and Hardball with Chris Matthews, MSNBC, 2 April 2008; Kerry Eleveld, “Obama Talks All Things LGBT,” The Advocate, 10 April 2008; Mayhill Fowler, “Obama: No Surprise That Hard-Pressed Pennsylvanians Turn Bitter,” Huffington Post, 11 April 2008; Obama, remarks to the Alliance for American Manufacturing, Pittsburgh, 14 April 2008; Curtis Lawrence, “Clinic That Filed Bankruptcy Getting Officials’ Support,” CST, 1 April 2002, p. 4; Helena Safron and Kelly Forman, “Field Guide for Altgeld Gardens in Chicago IL,” unpublished paper, Geology Department, University of Wisconsin, June 2003; Clemolyn ‘Pennie’ Brinson, “Altgeld Gardens Lawsuit Settlement,” Residents’ Journal, January–February 2004; Susan Dosemagen, “Are There Enough Students to Fill New Altgeld Gardens School?,” Medill Reports, 25 November 2008; Tom Baldwin, “Anger and Despair Rule the Mean Streets That Set Obama on Road to Power,” Times (London), 16 January 2009; Layton Ehmke et al., “In Altgeld Gardens, Problems Run Deeper Than Fenger Violence,” Medill Reports, 27 October 2009; Linda Paul, “Altgeld Gardens: The Wall of Death,” WBEZ Chicago, 5 November 2009; Christopher Drew, “At Developer’s Trial, Witness Recalls Seeing Obamas at 2004 Party for Investor,” NYT, 15 April 2008; Bob Secter, “The Rezko Trial—Levine: Obama a Guest at ’04 Party for Tycoon,” CT, 15 April 2008; Barack H. and Michelle L. Obama, 2007 Form 1040, 13 April 2008; Obama, Senate Financial Disclosure Report, 15 May 2008; “Transcript of Democratic Debate in Philadelphia,” NYT, 16 April 2008; Obama on All Things Considered, NPR, and The Daily Show, Comedy Central, 21 April 2008, on The Early Show, CBS, Today, NBC, and Good Morning America, ABC, 22 April 2008; Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, p. 245; Remnick, The Bridge, pp. 528–29; DJG interview with Jeremiah Wright; Wright’s November 2011 interview with Ed Klein; Klein, The Amateur, pp. 50–51.

  17. Wright on Bill Moyers Journal, PBS, 25 April 2008; Wright, address to the Detroit branch of the NAACP, 27 April 2008; Obama on Fox News Sunday, 27 April 2008; Abdon M. Pallasch, “Obama’s Subprime Pal Penny Pritzker,” CST, 28 April 2008; Wright, remarks at the National Press Club, 28 April 2008; Nicoli Nattrass, The AIDS Conspiracy: Science Fights Back (Columbia University Press, 2013), p. 25; Alessandra Stanley, “Not Speaking for Obama, Pastor Speaks for Himself, at Length,” NYT, 29 April 2008; Obama, press conference on Jeremiah Wright, Winston-Salem, NC, 29 April 2008; Jeff Zeleny and Adam Nagourney, “An Angry Obama Renounces Ties to His Ex-Pastor,” NYT, 30 April 2008; Tom Coburn on The Sean Hannity Show, Fox News, 28 May 2008; Clarence E. Walker and Gregory D. Smithers, The Preacher and the Politician (University of Virginia Press, 2009), pp. 46–50; Wolffe, Renegade, pp. 171, 174, 181–84; Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, pp. 245–49; Remnick, The Bridge, pp. 529–31.

  18. “Mr. Obama and Rev. Wright,” NYT, 30 April 2008; “Parting with the Pastor,” WP, 30 April 2008; Adolph Reed Jr., “Obama No,” Progressive, May 2008; Michael Powell and Jodi Kantor, “A Strained Wright-Obama Bond Finally Snaps,” NYT, 1 May 2008; Michelle Obama on Today, NBC, 1 May 2008; Obama on Meet the Press, NBC, 4 May 2008; Obama on Today, NBC, American Morning, CNN, The Early Show, CBS, Morning Joe, MSNBC, and Fox and Friends, Fox News, 5 May 2008; Fred Siegel, “The Obama Way,” NR, 5 May 2008; Obama on the NBC Nightly News, 8 May 2008; Jeremiah A. Wright to Timuel Black, 13 May 2008; Ta-Nehisi Coates, “A Deeper Black,” The Nation, 19 May 2008; Obama and Michelle Obama on Good Morning America, ABC, 19 May 2008; Stanley Kurtz, “Wright’s Trumpet,” Weekly Standard, 19 May 2008; Kurtz, “‘Context,’ You Say?,” and “Left in Church: Deep Inside the Wright Trumpet,” NR, 19 and 20 May 2008; Cinque Henderson, “Maybe We Can’t,” and John B. Judis, “The Big Race: Obama and the Psychology of the Color Barrier,” TNR, 28 May 2008, pp. 16–18 and 21–24; Perry Bacon Jr., “On Policy, Obama Breaks Little New Ground,” WP, 29 May 2008; Jeff Zeleny, “A Pulpit Matter Again,” NYT, 30 May 2008; Susan Saulny, “Mocking of Clinton at Obama’s Church Reverberates,” NYT, 31 May 2008; Obama, remarks in Aberdeen, SD, 31 May 2008; Ben Smith and Mike Allen, “Obama Quits Trinity UCC,” Politico, 31 May 2008; Charles P. Pierce, “The Cynic and Senator,” Esquire, June 2008; Laura S. Washington, “Obama Not Feelin’ the Love from Smiley,” ITT, June 2008, p. 17; Michael Powell, “Following Months of Criticism, Obama Quits His Church,” NYT, 1 June 2008; Derek Kravitz and Keith Richburg, “Obama Quits Longtime Church Over Inflammatory Comments,” WP, 1 June 2008; Jon Meacham, “What Barack Obama Learned from His Father,” Newsweek, 22 August 2008; Daren Briscoe, “An Interview with Barack Obama,” Newsweek, 8 January 2009 [18–19 May 2008]; Dan Balz and Haynes Johnson, “A Political Odyssey,” WP, 2 August 2009; Balz and Johnson, The Battle for America 2008, p. 211–14; Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, pp. 248–49; Wolffe, Renegade, p. 184; DJG interviews with Timuel Black and Hermene Hartman. Two years later, Wright would write that “no one in the Obama administration will respond to me, listen to me, talk to me or read anything that I write to them. I am ‘toxic’” and “‘radioactive.’ . . . When Obama threw me under the bus, he threw me under the bus literally!” Wright to Joseph Prischak, 18 February 2010.

  19. Obama, remarks in St. Paul, MN, 3 June 2008; Obama’s interview with ABC News’ Charles Gibson, 4 June 2008; John McCormick, “A Wizard of Odds Steers Obama Run,” CT, 9 June 2008; Julie Bosman, “Obama Calls for More Responsibility from Black Fathers,” NYT, 16 June 2008; Obama on World News Tonight, ABC, 16 June 2008; Michael Powell and Jodi Kantor, “After Attacks, Michelle Obama Looks for a New Introduction,” NYT, 18 June 2008; Michael Eric Dyson, “Obama’s Rebuke of Absentee Black Fathers,” Time, 19 June 2008; Michael Luo and Jeff Zeleny, “Obama, in Shift, Says He’ll Reject Public Financing,” and David Brooks, “The Two Obamas,” NYT, 20 June 2008; Diane Salvatore, “Barack and Michelle Obama: The Full Interview,” Ladies’ Home Journal, August 2008; Rice and Sams, By the People, Pivotal Pictures, 2009; Jonathan V. Last, “American Narcissus,” Weekly Standard, 22 November 2010.

  20. Howard Kurtz, “Applying a Personal Touch to the Campaign,” WP, 23 June 2008; Cameron Strang, “Q&A with Barack Obama,” Relevant Magazine, 1 July 2008; Frank James, “Obama Backs Late, Mental-Health Abortion,” CT, 5 July 2008; Laura Miller, “Barack by the Books,” Salon, 7 July 2008; Andrew Delbanco, “Deconstructing Barry,” TNR, 9 July 2008, pp. 20ff.; Dwight D. Murphey, DFMF review, Journal of Social, Political and Economic Studies 33 (Summer 2008): 271–77; David S. Broder, “Obama’s Enigma,” WP, 13 July 2008; John Kass, “Obama Backers on the Left Are Doing the Wincing Now,” CT, 13 July 2008; Obama, “My Plan for Iraq,” NYT, 14 July 2008; Adolph Reed Jr., “Where Obamaism Seems to Be Going,” Black Agenda Report, 15 July 2008; Obama on Larry King Live, CNN, 15 July 2008; Darryl Pinckney, “Obama & the Black Church,” NYRB, 17 July 2008, pp. 18–21; Harry C. Alford, “Beyond the Rhetoric,” Pittsburgh Courier, 17 July 2008; Paul Street, “Statehouse Days,” Znet, 20 July 2008; Tyrone Simpson, “Barack Obama and the Abuse of Black Fathers,” Black Agenda Report, 22 July 2008; Sandra Sobieraj Westfall, “Barack Obama Gives Daughter $1 Allowance a Week,” People, 23 July 2008; Gabriel Sherman, “Barack Obama and the Press Break Up,” TNR, 24 July 2008; “Barack Obama Interview,” CT, 26 July 2008; Obama Q&A, Unity Journalism Conference, Chicago, 27 July 2008; Westfall, “Michelle Obama on Date Nights with
Her Husband,” People, 30 July 2008; Joanna Coles and Lucy Kaylin, “Barack in the Saddle,” Marie Claire, 15 August 2008; Damon Linker, “How Obama Found Himself in Trouble This Time,” TNR, 21 August 2008; Ben Smith and Jeffrey Ressner, “Barack Obama’s Lost Law Review Article,” Politico, 22 August 2008.

  21. David Brooks, “Where’s the Landslide?,” NYT, 5 August 2008; Chris Bailey, “It’s Still Obama-rama in Hawaii,” HM, 12 August 2008; Michelle Cottle, “Be Not Cool,” TNR, 15 August 2008; Obama at the Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency, 16 August 2008; Vanessa Grigoriadis, “Black & Blacker,” NYM, 18 August 2008; Karen Tumulty and David Von Drehle, “Obama on His Veep Thinking,” Time, 20 August 2008; John Lippert, “Penny Pritzker Shows Why She Convinced Buffett to Support Obama,” Bloomberg, 20 August 2008; “Barack Obama Interview,” CT, 21 August 2008; Mike Pflanz, “Barack Obama Is My Inspiration, Says Lost Brother,” Telegraph, 21 August 2008; Von Drehle, “The Five Faces of Barack Obama,” Time, 21 August 2008; John McCormick, “1-On-1 with Obama,” CT, 23 August 2008; Jodi Kantor, “For a New Political Age, a Self-Made Man,” NYT, 28 August 2008; Carrie Budoff Brown, “Obama: The Journey of a Confident Man,” Politico, 28 August 2008; David Moberg, “Loving Obama Left,” ITT, September 2008; John B. Judis, “Creation Myth,” and Cass Sunstein, “The Empiricist Strikes Back,” TNR, 10 September 2008; David Samuels, “Invisible Man—How Ralph Ellison Explains Barack Obama,” TNR, 22 October 2008. On Dreams, see also especially Kelly Bulkeley, “Dreams Shed Light on Obama’s Values,” SFC, 17 August 2008, p. G9 (focusing on two dreams featuring loincloths, Barack’s “feelings of hostility toward his father,” and “personal qualities he deplores in his paternal ancestors yet fears may dwell in him too”), Barbara Foley, “Rhetoric and Silence in Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father,” Cultural Logic 2009, pp. 1–46, at 4 (“the negation of leftist and revolutionary ideas . . . is the intent guiding Obama’s text”), James T. Kloppenberg, Reading Obama (Princeton University Press, 2010), esp. pp. 9, 14, 20, and 251 (calling Dreams “a fable or an allegory” and noting how “Obama’s debts to Ellison run particularly deep. Many borrowed images from Invisible Man . . . pop up in passages in Dreams”), and Glenda R. Carpio, “Race & Inheritance in Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father,” Daedalus, Winter 2011, pp. 79–89.