President Obama’s relative success or failure will be judged largely by the result of his legislative initiatives. And these are of course critical, especially when it comes to issues like health care, energy, and financial and regulatory reform. But he also believes strongly in the ability of real leadership to make a huge difference.
We saw voters looking at the human qualities of leadership throughout the campaign. His call for a new politics based on more civil and respectful dialogue, his risky and forthright speech on race during the Jeremiah Wright episode, and his challenge to parents “to turn the TV off and read to your kids” and to take more responsibility and involvement in their children’s education—all these drove support for his candidacy.
The impact of his leadership qualities will likely not receive much attention in the daily box score of our political coverage, but I believe it could have a lasting impact. A generation from now, I suspect there will be a much smaller percentage of young people across the globe who choose the route of terrorism than might have, because President Obama will change the way many look at our country in the coming years. Studies may show a higher percentage of parents actively engaged in their children’s education because of the president’s leadership and the emphasis both he and the first lady are putting on parental involvement and responsibility in learning.
And even though there will be tough fights in Washington, the president will resist the low road. This attitude goes directly against the old dusty Washington playbook and may not be rewarded by the pundits. Outrage, anger, and attacks always get boffo coverage; reasonableness, measured responses, and seeing both sides of issues rarely do. But this is what the country is hungry for and what’s called for if we hope to repair the tremendous damage done to our government and to our communities after so many years of a highly partisan approach to government. During the campaign, Candidate Obama treated the voters like adults, discussing issues and solutions in detail and, yes, with nuance, though he was often derided for doing so by many political observers. They said he was too professorial and did not engage in enough snappy, short lines of rhetoric. They are still criticizing him. But the president believes deeply that the American people want to have an honest and complex dialogue about the direction of the country.
And over time, I believe the American people, and maybe even a few politicians in Washington, will appreciate this change in tone; and perhaps years from now it will eventually become the norm instead of the exception.
Our election victory did not fully settle in for me until January 17, 2009, three days before the inauguration. I would still find myself hearing and seeing the words “President Obama,” “incoming White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs,” or “White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod,” and I’d do a double take. It just didn’t seem real.
And I was not alone. When I talked to the president-elect at some point in December, during the conversation where he encouraged me to write this book, he said, “Each day, it sinks in a little bit more. But there are still moments when it seems like an out-of-body experience. Then the reality that these will soon be my problems, that they’re no longer theoretical, snaps me back. Not that we won. But that we have to govern. I actually haven’t had a moment to really savor what we accomplished in the campaign. The election was over and the very next moment, we had a government to build, priorities to set with the problems getting worse by the hour.”
The Saturday before the inaugural, my wife, son, and I joined the Obama and Biden families in a box on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for an inaugural weekend concert that featured a dizzying array of talent, including Bruce Springsteen, U2, Stevie Wonder, and Beyoncé. It was a very nice gesture on their part to include us, though it has ruined all future concerts for my son; they will all pale in comparison. The president-elect was slated to speak briefly during the show and a few moments before he would stride to the microphone, I looked at him from behind. Everyone in our box was, and I assume the hundreds of thousands in the crowd were, fixed on the music performance onstage. But the president-elect was intently gazing in the direction of Abraham Lincoln’s imposing statue rising up behind and above the stage. And ever the staff guy, I was observing him do so.
For me, this was the moment that his election finally became real. Watching our first African American president look quietly at Lincoln, the great emancipator, before taking the steps of the memorial built in his honor simply took my breath away.
Later that night, the Obamas had invited a small number of campaign staffers and key supporters to join them at Blair House, a government building where many foreign dignitaries stay when visiting Washington. It is directly across from the White House and the Obama family was staying there that weekend before they moved into their new home.
I asked the president-elect when I saw him, “Before you spoke today, were you looking up at Lincoln?”
He raised his eyelids, surprised perhaps that his private moment had been witnessed. “Very observant, Plouffe,” he said. “It was emotional to be speaking on the Lincoln Memorial, given all the history involved. Reading the inscription reminded me of the weight of this office through history. It helped me gather myself. For all of our challenges, we’ve faced greater. Lincoln had to save the Union.”
He paused. “So I also asked ol’ Abe for wisdom and judgment and patience. We’ll need it.”
“Well, for me, it finally made all this real,” I said. “Seeing you on those steps, drawing on Lincoln for inspiration, it was a remarkable moment in history.”
He grabbed my shoulder and looked into my eyes. “It’s real now for me, too. And, humbly, I think I’m ready. I can’t wait to get to work and help change this country for the better.”
I know he will.
Acknowledgments
When I sat down to write this book, my experience as a writer was limited to campaign memos and television advertisements. The scale and complexity of a book were daunting.
I have many people to thank for making sure I did not crash and burn.
First is President Barack Obama, who encouraged me to write this book, believing this story belongs not only to those of us who experienced it firsthand, but all whose lives it impacts, and, possibly, history. This campaign reflected the ability and willingness of a people to write their own history, and as such it deserved to be recorded accurately and thoroughly, and before the inevitable mythmaking warped its telling.
As the author of two best-sellers, the president can’t know how seriously I took his joking admonition that “Your reputation, and the reputation of the organization, is pretty good coming off the campaign. Don’t damage it by writing a bad book.” While I can never approach his talents as a writer, I hope this book captures the spirit as well as the story of our campaign from a staff perspective. He was a remarkable candidate, is a remarkable person and leader, and my two years by his side are a most treasured period of my life.
Clare Ferraro of Viking, my publisher, went way out on the limb in agreeing to work with a first-time author, with no collaborator, on a tight schedule. Her confidence in my ability to write this book helped sustain and drive me.
Wendy Wolf, my editor, and her partner in crime, Kevin Doughten, helped shape this book in every meaningful way, and helped improve me as a writer throughout the process. I am immensely grateful for their patience, judgment, and skill.
Luckily for a novice author writing about a start-up campaign, Viking is staffed with seasoned professionals who took our breakneck schedule in stride. Everyone in managing editorial, design, and production worked far beyond the call of duty to see that we hit our marks, and the team from publicity and marketing tackled the launch by thinking outside of the box, as we did so often in the campaign. I’m grateful to all of these people for their time, effort, good judgment, and commitment to this project.
Bob Barnett, my agent, provided wise counsel and great advice throughout.
The audience I care most about is the Obama campaign
staff and volunteers who were responsible for this story’s occurring in the first place. I could have written a 200,000-word book and not had enough room to highlight the amazing work, accomplishments, and character of this campaign family. Your exploits are reflected in every page; I was humbled to work by your side and attempt to capture in this book all we accomplished together.
I want to single out David Axelrod and Katie Johnson for additional thanks. We simply would not have been the Obama campaign, or won, without David Axelrod. This is as much his story as mine, and I owe a special debt of gratitude to him for his collaboration, genius, and principles. He is a unique person in our politics, and I am fortunate to count him as a friend and collaborator.
Katie Johnson was by my side for two years, and without her, the campaign and I would have floundered. She could have done many jobs on the campaign as it progressed, because everyone who came in contact with her saw her talents and drive, but instead chose to stay as my assistant, helping me flourish and putting the campaign’s needs first. She will make a difference wherever she goes.
Lynn Eisenberg and Jordan Burke played invaluable roles helping with the research for the book, often by necessity, at warp speed.
David Axelrod and Anita Dunn somehow found the time to read the manuscript and provide incisive guidance, additional perspective on important events, and, as always, terrific judgment. I am indebted to them now, twice.
There is no index following these acknowledgments as a recognition that our campaign was not a collection of individuals, no matter how talented, but a tight unit of staff and volunteers who were on every day, stronger as the sum of those parts. I hope this book honors that reality. But regardless, you’ll need to read the book, not flip through and index, to find out.
The events and dialogue in this book reflect my recollections. I had plenty of source material to work from—e-mails, calendars, some notes, and the recollections of some of my former colleagues. But even though little time has passed, there is no doubt not every piece of dialogue is accurate to the word. But I am confident the spirit, content, and import of each exchange stands the test.
Our family was kept upright through the bouncy seas of this voyage by a network of friends and family. They kept us sane and focused; fed, housed, and listened to us; and wordlessly scrambled to retrieve the many balls we dropped while marveling aloud at how adept we were at juggling. We would not have survived without them.
My parents, brothers and sisters, and close friends gave enormous support and understanding during the campaign, as they have throughout my life. This book and any role I had in this amazing story are due to a lifetime of their love, guidance, and keeping me grounded.
I owe my wife, Olivia Morgan, gratitude on many levels, but two I can recognize in these pages. First, for encouraging me to embark on this improbable campaign journey, despite the sacrifices and burdens it required of her. She is my hero for that.
Olivia improved this book in large ways and small, and lived and breathed every word and chapter with me for many months. It is crisper, clearer as a result. She set as the guidepost a book that our children and their peers can read many years from now and understand that, for two years, Mom, Dad, and millions like them loved their country enough to change it.
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