Skip to main content

Barack Obama: Notes

Barack Obama
Notes

  • Show the following:

    Annotations
    Resources

  • Adjust appearance:

    Font
    Font style
    Color Scheme
    Light
    Dark
    Annotation contrast
    Low
    High
    Margins
  • Search within:
    • Notifications
    • Privacy
  • Project HomeBarack Obama
  • Projects
  • Learn more about Manifold

Notes

table of contents
  1. Preface
  2. Introduction
  3. 1. Roots
  4. 2. From Organizer to Politician
  5. 3. The Presidential Run and the Earthquake of Iowa
  6. 4. From Iowa to President-Elect
  7. 5. Landmark Achievement: The Affordable Care Act
  8. 6. Quest for a Common Purpose
  9. 7. The Comeback President
  10. 8. Dysfunctional Government
  11. 9. A Second Recovery
  12. 10. The Shock of Donald J. Trump’s Election
  13. 11. The Postpresidency
  14. Acknowledgments
  15. Notes
  16. Selected Bibliography
  17. Index

Notes

1. Roots

*For purposes of proper syntax, I have occasionally altered the capitalization of the first letter of a word when quoting from an original document. On no occasion has this changed the meaning of the original document.
1.James T. Patterson, Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945–1974 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), vii–ix, 3–104, and 442–709.
2.Although she grew up being called “Stanley,” she preferred to be called “Ann” and used that name in her adult life.
3.Jonathan Martin, “Obama’s Mother Known Here as ‘Uncommon,’ ” Seattle Times, April 8, 2008, https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/obamas-mother-known-here-as-uncommon/
4.Janny Scott, A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mother (New York: Riverhead Books, 2011), 44–54.
5.Martin, “Obama’s Mother Known Here as ‘Uncommon’ ”; Scott, A Singular Woman, 54–75; Garen Thomas, Yes We Can: A Biography of President Barack Obama (New York: Fiewel and Friends, 2008), 14–15; Barack Obama, Dreams from My Father (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2004),16 and 122–23; David Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2012), 127–29 and 158; David J. Garrow, Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama (New York: William Morrow, 2017), 50–51.
6.Barack Obama, interview by David Axelrod, Full Transcript for the Axe Files,” CNN, December 26, 2016, https://www.cnn.com/2016/12/26/politics/axe-files-obama-transcript; Scott, A Singular Woman, 54–75; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 159.
7.Martin, “Obama’s Mother Known Here as ‘Uncommon’ ”; Scott, A Singular Woman, 44–54; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 69–70.
8.Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 4–7.
9.Barack Obama, A Promised Land (New York: Crown, 2020), 7–8; Obama, Dreams from My Father, 13–15; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 25–32; David Mendell, Obama: From Promise to Power (New York: HarperCollins, 2007), 39.
10.Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 32–34; Obama, Dreams from My Father, 14–15.
11.Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 287–88; Obama, Dreams from my Father, 16–17; Scott, A Singular Woman, 60–61.
12.Obama, Dreams from My Father, 21; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 125–26 and 287–88.
13.Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 143–44; David Remnick, The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama (New York: Vintage Books, 2011), 48–49.
14.In Dreams from My Father, Obama states that his grandparents may have exaggerated their racial tolerance, especially his grandfather’s account of why he left Texas. But he does not dismiss their account entirely. He also recognized his grandparents’ progressive racial views. Obama, Dreams from My Father, 12–18.
15.Obama, Dreams from My Father, 8–10; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 174–78, 182, 206–8.
16.Garrow, Rising Star, 43–48, 50–52; Peter Firstbrook, The Obamas: The Untold Story of an American Family (New York: Crown Publishers, 2010), 179–80, 210–12, 216–17, 225–26; Scott, A Singular Woman, 86–90, 96; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 94–120, and 172–74.
17.Scott, A Singular Woman, 101–7; Firstbrook, The Obamas, 211–12; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 175–81, 195–201, and 209–11; Garrow, Rising Star, 61–64.
18.Janny Scott, “Obama’s Young Mother Abroad,” New York Times Magazine, April 20, 2011, https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/24/magazine/mag-24Obama-t.html; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 195–201, 210–14; Garrow, Rising Star, 57–63.
19.Scott, “Obama’s Young Mother Abroad”; Scott, A Singular Woman, 113–18, Garrow, Rising Star, 63–64; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 214–15, and 234–35.
20.Scott, “Obama’s Young Mother Abroad”; Scott, A Singular Woman, 118–30; Obama, Dreams from My Father, 46–47; Garrow, Rising Star, 73, 105 and 118–19.
21.James T. Kloppenberg, Reading Obama: Dreams, Hope, and the American Political Tradition (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2011), 11. Obama, Dreams from My Father, 47–51; Scott, “Obama’s Young Mother Abroad”; Scott, A Singular Woman, 134–41; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 230–34 and 242.
22.Obama, A Promised Land, 9; Scott, “Obama’s Young Mother Abroad”; Garrow, Rising Star, 64–65; Mendell, Obama, 35–38.
23.Scott, A Singular Woman, 199–218; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 237–41; Kloppenberg, Reading Obama, 11–12.
24.Scott, A Singular Woman, 199–218, and 264.
25.Ibid., 138–49; Obama, interview by Axelrod; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 278–79.
26.Obama, Dreams from My Father, 35; Jennifer Steinhauer, “Charisma and a Search for Self in Obama’s Hawaii Childhood,” New York Times, March 17, 2007, https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/us/politics/17hawaii.html; Kirsten Scharnberg and Kim Barker, “The Not-So-Simple Story of Barack Obama’s Youth,” Chicago Tribune, March 25, 2007, https://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-070325obama-youth-story-archive-story.html; Scott, A Singular Woman, cover, 99, 139, and 148; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 221–22, 241–42; Garrow, Rising Star, 66–67.
27.Obama, Dreams from My Father, 36–37; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 215–24 and 244; Garrow, Rising Star, 65–66; Mendell, Obama, 33.
28.Scott, “Obama’s Young Mother Abroad”; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 241–42; Mendell, Obama, 33–35; Remnick, The Bridge, 239; Obama, interview by Axelrod.
29.Obama, Dreams from My Father, 24–25.
30.Ibid., 55–56; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 286–87; Mendell, Obama, 51.
31.Jackie Calmes, “On Campus, Obama and Memories,” New York Times, January 2, 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/03/us/politics/03Reunion.html; Steinhauer, “Charisma and a Search for Self in Obama’s Hawaii Childhood”; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 265 and 287–92; Garrow, Rising Star, 84–85; Mendell, Obama, 36–37. Obama, Dreams from My Father, 55–56.
32.Mendell, Obama, 45–46.
33.Obama, A Promised Land, 8; Scharnberg and Barker, “The Not-So-Simple Story of Barack Obama”; Obama, Dreams from My Father, 78–80; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 283–85; Mendell, Obama, 43 and 45.
34.Calmes, “On Campus, Obama and Memories”; Mendell, Obama, 45 and 47; Garrow, Rising Star, 91–94.
35.Obama, Dreams from My Father, 85–89; Obama, A Promised Land, 8–9; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 270–71 and 362–63; Garrow, Rising Star, 84–86.
36.Obama, A Promised Land, 9; Obama, Dreams from My Father, 84–85 and 128–29; Kloppenberg, Reading Obama, 13–16; Barack Obama, “Barack Obama and Doris Kearns Goodwin: The Ultimate Exit Interview,” Vanity Fair, December, 2016, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/09/barack-obama-doris-kearns-goodwin-interview; Steinhauer, “Charisma and a Search for Self in Obama’s Hawaii Childhood”; Garrow, Rising Star, 88–90, 100; Mendell, Obama, 41, 43–44, 47 and 51; Remnick, The Bridge, 229–32.
37.Punahou School, https://www.punahou.edu/about; Obama, Dreams from My Father, 96; Obama, interview by Axelrod.
38.Calmes, “On Campus, Obama and Memories”; Mendell, Obama, 55–56.
39.Obama, Dreams from My Father, 96.
40.Andy Faught, “School of Barack,” Occidental Magazine, Winter 2017, https://obamascholars.oxy.edu/news/school-barack; David Maraniss, “Barack Obama: The College Years,” Guardian, May 25, 2012, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/may/25/barack-obama-the-college-years.
41.Obama, A Promised Land, 10–11; Maraniss, “Barack Obama: The College Years”; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 366–67.
42.Andrew Ferguson, “Self-Made Man,” Free Republic, June 18, 2012, https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2896401/posts; Occidental College, “Boesche Gets Rare ‘Drop In’ Visit at White House,” August 17, 2009, http://www.oxy.edu/news/boesche-gets-rare-drop-visit-white-house; Kloppenberg, Reading Obama, 16–22; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 351–65, and 368.
43.Obama, Dreams from My Father, 100–101 and 105–7; Obama, A Promised Land, 10–11; Margot Mifflin, “Obama at Occidental, New Yorker, October 3, 2012, https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/obama-at-occidental; Faught, “School of Barack”; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 364–67 and 374–84; Remnick, The Bridge, 241; Garrow, Rising Star, 113–22 and 126–28.
44.Obama, Dreams from My Father, 86–87; Maraniss, “Barack Obama: The College Years”; Remnick, The Bridge, 232–34.
45.Obama, Dreams from My Father, 102–3 and 111; Calmes, “On Campus, Obama and Memories”; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 278–79 and 372–73.
46.Obama, Dreams from My Father, 115–18; Kloppenberg, Reading Obama, 22; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 386–88; Garrow, Rising Star, 131–37.
47.Obama, Dreams from My Father,121–22; Obama, A Promised Land, 11–12; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 420–43, 457–58 and 465–66; Garrow, Rising Star, 143–45.
48.Scott, A Singular Woman, 223–79; Garrow, Rising Star, 139; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 406–13.
49.Obama, A Promised Land, 12–13; Scott, A Singular Woman, 261–63; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 428–31; Tammerlin Drummond, “Barack Obama, Harvard Law Review Editor, March 19, 1990,” Daily Mirror (blog), Los Angeles Times, September 4, 2008, https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2008/09/barack-obama-ha.html.
50.The quotes are from Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 452 and 456, and Maraniss, “Barack Obama: The College Years.” See also Obama, Dreams from My Father, 120.
51.The quotes are from Maraniss, “Barack Obama: The College Years” and Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 452–55. See also 484–85.
52.As quoted in Kloppenberg, Reading Obama, 23.
53.Scott, A Singular Woman, 263; Obama, Dreams from My Father, 135–36; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 460–66 and 483–86; Garrow, Rising Star, 164–67.
54.David Maraniss, “Becoming Obama,” Vanity Fair, May 2, 2012, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/politics/2012/06/young-barack-obama-in-love-david-maraniss; Lisa Miller, “Barack Obama’s Christian Journey,” Newsweek, July 11, 2008, https://www.newsweek.com/cover-story-barack-obamas-christian-journey-92611 Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 448–49 and 472–90; Remnick, The Bridge, 244–45; Garrow, Rising Star, 152–53, 156–64, 168–78, 180, and 182–92. In his memoirs, A Promised Land, Obama never mentions his relationship with the two women.
55.The quote is from a letter Obama’s mother wrote. In fairness, most of BI’s clients were countries with significant foreign operations. Scott, A Singular Woman, 263. In his memoirs, Obama also compared his job to “a spy behind enemy lines.” Obama, Dreams from My Father, 135. See also Tamara K. Nopper, “Barack Obama’s Community Organizing as New Black Politics,” Political Power and Social Theory 22 (2008): 61–62; Garrow, Rising Star, 169–70.
56.Obama, Dreams from My Father, 133–35. Kloppenberg, Reading Obama, 24–25.
57.Obama, Dreams from My Father, 137–38. Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 469–70. See also Garrow, Rising Star, 179.
58.Obama, Dreams from My Father, 138–41; Edward McClelland, Young Mr. Obama: Chicago and the Making of a Black President (New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2010), 11; Garrow, Rising Star, 182–90. On Obama’s reaction to the lack of response from civil rights organizations to the letters he wrote them, see Nopper, “Barack Obama’s Community Organizing as New Black Politics,” 57.
59.Obama, Dreams from My Father, 141–43. The Kellman quote is from Serge Kovaleski, “Obama’s Organizing Years, Guiding Others and Finding Himself,” New York Times, July 7, 2008; Garrow, Rising Star, 191–92. See also Nopper, “Barack Obama’s Community Organizing as New Black Politics,” 57.
60.Obama, Dreams from My Father, 146–48; Obama, A Promised Land, 15.
61.Ben Joravsky, “When Obama Needed Public-Access TV to Reach Voters,” Chicago Reader, January 14, 2014, https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/barack-obama-interviewed-on-public-access-television/Content?oid=12134521; McClelland, Young Mr. Obama, 15–16; Obama, Dreams from My Father, 155–60.
62.McClelland, Young Mr. Obama, 18–19.
63.McClelland, Young Mr. Obama, 5; Remnick, The Bridge, 165; Obama, Dreams from My Father, 164–65; Garrow, Rising Star, 30–32.
64.McClelland, Young Mr. Obama, 5–6; Remnick, The Bridge, 164, and 242–43; Garrow, Rising Star, 1–11, 21–22, 200–201.
65.McClelland, Young Mr. Obama, 8; Kovaleski, “Obama’s Organizing Years, Guiding Others and Finding Himself”; Saul D. Alinsky, Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals (New York: Random House, 1971), esp. xiii–xxvi and 126–27. See also Noam Cohen, “Know Thine Enemy,” New York Times, August 22, 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/weekinreview/23alinsky.html; Garrow, Rising Star, 198; Kloppenberg, Reading Obama, 92–93.
66.Cohen, “Know Thine Enemy”; Nelson Lichtenstein, “It Never Hurts to Have a Few Enemies,” New York Times Book Review, November 12, 1989, https://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/12/books/it-never-hurts-to-have-a-few-enemies.html; McClelland, Young Mr. Obama, 9–10; Obama, Dreams from My Father, 168–69; Garrow, Rising Star, 39–40.
67.McClelland, Young Mr. Obama, 8–10, 13–15; Kloppenberg, Reading Obama, 29–30, 33–34.
68.McClelland, Young Mr. Obama, 13–15; Kovaleski, “Obama’s Organizing Years, Guiding Others and Finding Himself.”
69.Kovaleski, “Obama’s Organizing Years, Guiding Others and Finding Himself”; McClelland, Young Mr. Obama, 11–12; Garrow, Rising Star, 201–2.
70.Edward McClelland, “Barack Obama as a Young Man,” HuffPost, October 15, 2010, updated May 25, 2011, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/barack-obama-young-man_b_761827; Barack Obama, “Why Organize? Problems and Promise in the Inner City,” Illinois Issues, http://gatherthepeople.org/Downloads/WHY_ORGANIZE.pdf.
71.Kovaleski, “Obama’s Organizing Years, Guiding Others and Finding Himself”; McClelland, Young Mr. Obama, 20–24 and 52–54; Obama, Dreams from My Father, 223–26, 274–75, 280, and 290–95; Remnick, The Bridge, 169–77; Garrow, Rising Star, 36, 255, 258–60.
72.Kovaleski, “Obama’s Organizing Years, Guiding Others and Finding Himself”; McClelland, Young Mr. Obama, 41–46; Remnick, The Bridge, 166–68; Garrow, Rising Star, 23–27.
73.Michele Norris, “How Chicago Politics Shaped Obama,” NPR, October 16, 2008, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95797455.
74.Obama, “Why Organize? Problems and Promise in the Inner City”; Kovaleski, “Obama’s Organizing Years, Guiding Others and Finding Himself”; McClelland, Young Mr. Obama, 47–50; Obama, Dreams from My Father, 275–76; Kloppenberg, Reading Obama, 30–31, 33, 34–36; Garrow, Rising Star, 209–12, 219–20, 230–33, 239–44, 248–54, 282–89; Remnick, The Bridge, 163–64, 178–81 and 243–44.
75.Garrow, Rising Star, 288.
76.Obama, A Promised Land, 17–18; Obama, interview by Axelrod; McClelland, Young Mr. Obama, 40 and 174–75. Obama, Dreams from My Father, 287–89; Remnick, The Bridge, 160–61 and 178; Garrow, Rising Star, 216, 276, 292–94. Washington died suddenly of a heart attack just as Obama was preparing to leave Chicago. Obama, Dreams from My Father, 289.
77.The quote is from Obama, Dreams from My Father, 276; see also 276–79; Ryan Lizza, “Making It: How Chicago Shaped Obama, “New Yorker, July 21, 2008, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/07/21/making-it; Cassandra Butts, interview by Michael Kirk, “The Frontline Interviews,” PBS, July 10, 2008, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/government-elections-politics/choice-2012/the-frontline-interview-cassandra-butts/; Kloppenberg, Reading Obama, 35–36.
78.Obama, Dreams from My Father, 301–2.
79.Ibid., 301–2; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 564: Remnick, The Bridge, 245.
80.Obama, Dreams from My Father, 309; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 565; Garrow, Rising Star, 319–20.
81.Obama, Dreams from My Father, 311–15; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 565.
82.Remnick, The Bridge, 246–47.
83.Obama, Dreams from My Father, 318–20, 333–35.
84.Ibid., 328–31. As previously written, Obama had already begun to think about issues of wealth while a financial writer at BI. See above, section “Collegiate Years.”
85.Obama, Dreams from My Father, 331–34.
86.Ibid., 347; Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 565–66.
87.Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, 429–30. See also Remnick, The Bridge, 247–49.
88.Obama, Dreams from My Father, 429–30.
89.Kloppenberg, Reading Obama, 8–9.

2. From Organizer to Politician

1.For an account of a typical incoming class (One L) and its experiences at Harvard Law School, see Scott Turow, One L: What They Really Teach You at Harvard Law School (New York: Penguin, 1978). Turow went on to become a best-selling novelist and an early backer of Obama in Chicago politics. Although he preceded Obama at Harvard by thirteen years, his experiences were similar to those of first-year students in 1988. See also David J. Garrow, Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama (New York: William Morrow, 2017), 327–28.
2.Ari Shapiro, “Obama Made a Strong First Impression at Harvard,” National Public Radio, May 22, 2012, https://www.npr.org/2012/05/22/153214284/obamas-harvard-days-began-with-exclamation-point;See also Cassandra Butts, interview by Michael Kirk, “The Frontline Interviews,” PBS, July 10, 2008, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/government-elections-politics/choice-2012/the-frontline-interview-cassandra-butts; “Obama First Made History at HLS,” Harvard Law Today, November 1, 2008, https://today.law.harvard.edu/obama-first-made-history-at-hls/#:~:text=It%20was%20as%20a%20law,in%20the%20spring%20of%201990.
3.Justin Driver, “Obama’s Law,” New Republic, June 9, 2011, https://newrepublic.com/article/89647/obama-legal-philosophy-laurence-tribe. See also David Remnick, The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama (New York: Vintage Books, 2011), 192–93.
4.Laurence H. Tribe, “The Curvature of Constitutional Space: What Lawyers Can Learn from Modern Physics,” Harvard Law Review 103 (November 1989): 1–36. See also James T. Kloppenberg, Reading Obama: Dreams, Hope, and the American Political Tradition (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2011), 58–62.
5.Driver, “Obama’s Law”; Laurence Tribe, “My Most Famous Students: President Obama and Justice Roberts,” Newsweek, July 9, 2012, https://www.newsweek.com/my-most-famous-students-president-obama-and-justice-roberts-65599; Remnick, The Bridge, 194–96. In the one brief published article that Obama wrote for the Review, he stated that the way to limit abortions in the United States was not to make abortions illegal but to expand access to prenatal education and health-care facilities. Jeffrey Ressner and Ben Smith, “Exclusive: Obama’s Lost Law Review Article,” Politico, August 2008, https://www.politico.com/story/2008/08/exclusive-obamas-lost-law-review-article-012705; Nora Caplan-Bricker, “The Young Barack Obama Anticipated How ‘Fetal Rights’ Could Endanger Women,” Slate, February 9, 2016, https://slate.com/human-interest/2016/02/barack-obama-at-harvard-law-school-anticipated-dangers-to-rights-of-pregnant-women.html.
6.The quote is from Garrow, Rising Star, 332. See also Remnick, The Bridge, 182–95.
7.Robert W. Gordon, “American Law through English Eyes: A Century of Nightmares and Noble Dreams,” Georgetown Law Journal 84 (1995–1996): 2215–43; Kloppenberg, Reading Obama, 32–55; Remnick, The Bridge, 183–86.
8.Kloppenberg, Reading Obama, 78–84. For a different view by one of Obama’s instructors who later claimed that Obama took a more skeptical view of the possibility of change, see Remnick, The Bridge,185–86.
9.Kloppenberg, Reading Obama, xxxiv–xxxvi and 193; Tribe, “My Most Famous Students.”
10.Laurence Tribe, “The Steadiness and Grace of President Obama,” Harvard Law and Policy Review,” November 14, 2016, https://harvardlpr.com/2016/11/14/laurence-tribe-the-steadiness-and-grace-of-president-obama/;Tribe, “My Most Famous Students”; Joanna Walters, “Class of ’91: Obama and Gorsuch Rubbed Shoulders at Harvard, but Their Paths Split,” Guardian, February 5, 2010, https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/feb/05/barack-obama-neil-gorsuch-harvard-law-classmates; Kloppenberg, Reading Obama, 62–65.
11.Kloppenberg, Reading Obama, 37–39; Remnick, The Bridge, 199–200; Garrow, Rising Star, 359–60. Interestingly, another member of Obama’s class who was able to reach across ideological boundaries was Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch. Walters, “Class of ’91.”
12.“Obama First Made History at HLS”; Ari Shapiro, “Obama Made a Strong First Impression at Harvard,” National Public Radio, May 22, 2012, https://www.npr.org/2012/05/22/153214284/obamas-harvard-days-began-with-exclamation-point; Jodi Kantor, “In Law School, Obama Found Political Voice,” New York Times, January 28, 2007, https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/us/politics/28obama.html; Remnick, The Bridge, 205–6.
13.John B. Judis, “Creation Myth,” New Republic, September 10, 2008, https://newrepublic.com/article/65874/creation-myth-0; Tammerlin Drummond, “Barack Obama, Harvard Law Review Editor, March 19, 1990,” Daily Mirror (blog), Los Angeles Times, September 4, 2008, https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2008/09/barack-obama-ha.html; Fox Butterfield, “First Black Elected to Head Harvard’s Law Review,” New York Times, February 6, 1990, https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/06/us/first-Black-elected-to-head-harvard-s-law-review.html; Garrow, Rising Star, 382–84; Remnick, The Bridge, 195.
14.Linda Matchan, “A Law Review Breakthrough,” Boston Globe, February 15, 1990, http://archive.boston.com/news/politics/2008/articles/1990/02/15/a_law_review_breakthrough/; Remnick, The Bridge, 200.
15.Drummond, “Barack Obama, Harvard Law Review Editor”; Garrow, Rising Star, 384–85; Remnick, The Bridge, 206–7.
16.Quoted in Remnick, The Bridge, 207. See also Kantor, “In Law School, Obama Found Political Voice”; Butts, interview by Kirk; Garrow, Rising Star, 387–91.
17.Quoted in Drummond, “Barack Obama, Harvard Law Review Editor.” See also Butterfield, “First Black Elected to Head Harvard’s Law Review”; Elise O’Shaughnessy, “Harvard Law Reviewed: Kicking Down Doors,” Vanity Fair, June 1990, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/1990/06/obama199006; Garrow, Rising Star, 375 and 391–95; Remnick, The Bridge, 208 and 217–18.
18.Michelle Obama, Becoming (New York: Crown, 2018), 96; Remnick, The Bridge, 200; Garrow, Rising Star, 348–49 and 350–51.
19.Michelle Obama, Becoming, 3–83; Christopher Andersen, Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage (New York: William Morrow, 2009), 124–25; Craig Robinson, A Game of Character: A Family Journey from Chicago’s Southside to the Ivy League and Beyond (New York: Gotham Books, 2010), xi; Remnick, The Bridge, 202.
20.Andersen, Barack and Michelle, 78–80; Robinson, A Game of Character, 4–6; Garrow, Rising Star, 364.
21.Barack Obama, A Promised Land (New York: Crown, 2020), 20–21; Michelle Obama, Becoming, 97–107; Andersen, Barack and Michelle, 119–23; Garrow, Rising Star, 361–63; Remnick, The Bridge, 201; David Mendell, Obama: From Promise to Power (New York: HarperCollins, 2007), 93–94. See also David Bergen Brophy, Michelle Obama: Meet the First Lady (New York: HarperCollins, 2009), 45–49.
22.Robinson, A Game of Character, xvi–xxiii; Andersen, Barack and Michelle, 126–29; Liza Mundy, Michelle (New York: Pocket Star Books, 2009), 15; Mendell, Obama, 93–95 and 100–101.
23.Andersen, Barack and Michelle, 130–31; Mendell, Obama, 99; Butts, interview by Kirk.
24.Michelle Obama, Becoming, 122–25; Andersen, Barack and Michelle, 132–33; Garrow, Rising Star, 381–82.
25.Andersen, Barack and Michelle, 145–46.
26.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 23; Michelle Obama, Becoming, 152 and 158; Mendell, Obama, 104–6; Remnick, The Bridge, 219–20; Andersen, Barack and Michelle, 128, 138–39 and 160–61; Garrow, Rising Star, 429–30 and 465–66.
27.Remnick, The Bridge, 208–9; Andersen, Barack and Michelle, 137; Garrow, Rising Star, 394–401; Kantor, “In Law School, Obama Found Political Voice.”
28.The quote is from Drummond, “Barack Obama, Harvard Law Review Editor.” For a more critical view of Obama’s management of the Review, see Garrow, Rising Star, 420–31.
29.Drummond, “Barack Obama, Harvard Law Review Editor”; Kantor, “In Law School, Obama Found Political Voice”; Garrow, Rising Star, 412–15 and 438–39.
30.Kantor, “In Law School, Obama Found Political Voice”; Garrow, Rising Star, 438–43. There was also an essay on the reconstruction theology of Dr. Martin Luther King, but this had to do more with critical legal studies than racial discrimination. The essays and book reviews of the Harvard Law Review while Obama was its editor can be found in Harvard Law Review, vols. 105–6. See also Kloppenberg, Reading Obama, 58–65.
31.Michelle Obama, Becoming, 132–35; Mundy, Michelle, 166; Garrow, Rising Star, 463.
32.Michelle Obama, Becoming, 125–29 and 146–51; Mundy, Michelle, 165–67; Brophy, Michelle Obama, 54–55; Remnick, The Bridge, 272–74.
33.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 22-23; Michelle Obama, Becoming, 156–57; Garrow, Rising Star, 462–64. Some biographers have maintained that there was even a political calculation in Obama’s decision to marry Michelle. According to this view, one reason why Obama broke off his earlier relationships with white women was because he felt that if he was going to have a successful political career, he had to marry someone who was Black. Otherwise, too much scandal would be involved in a biracial marriage. On this point, see Garrow, Rising Star, 277–78. But according to Cassandra Butts, who knew Barack since their days at Harvard Law School and later served in the White House as deputy counsel, there was no political calculation involved. “It was a very personal connection with Michelle,” she later commented. Butts, interview by Kirk; Brophy, Michelle and Obama, 59–60. See also Garrow, Rising Star, 344–47. On the wedding itself, see Andersen, Barack and Michelle, 156–61.
34.Michelle Obama, Becoming, 61–65; Andersen, Barack and Michelle, 150–52; Mundy, Michelle, 180–84; Remnick, The Bridge, 268–69; Garrow, Rising Star, 489–91.
35.Gretchen Reynolds, “Vote of Confidence,” Chicago Magazine, January 1, 1993, http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/January-1993/Vote-of-Confidence; Garrow, Rising Star, 489; Andersen, Barack and Michelle, 152–53; Michelle Obama, Becoming, 166–69.
36.Remnick, The Bridge, 220–21; Andersen, Barack and Michelle, 154; John Presta, Mr. and Mrs. Grassroots: How Barack Obama, Two Bookstore Owners, and 300 Volunteers Did It (Paoli, PA: Elevator Group, 2010), 16–17; Angie Drobnic Holan, “Project Vote Not ‘An Arm of ACORN,’ ” PolitiFact, October 17, 2008, http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2008/oct/17/john-mccain/project-vote-not-an-arm-of-acorn/.
37.Reynolds, “Vote of Confidence”; Garrow, Rising Star, 471–72; Andersen, Barack and Michelle, 150; Remnick, The Bridge, 221–22 and 269–70.
38.Reynolds, “Vote of Confidence”; Andersen, Barack and Michelle, 154–56; Remnick, The Bridge, 222–24; Garrow, Rising Star, 472–81.
39.Reynolds, “Vote of Confidence”; Garrow, Rising Star, 482.
40.Reynolds, “Vote of Confidence”; Holan, “Project Vote Not ‘An Arm of ACORN’ ”; Remnick, The Bridge, 224–25; Ezra Klein, “The Woods Fund,” The Prospect, May 2, 2008, http://prospect.org/article/woods-fund; Judis, “Creation Myth”; Garrow, Rising Star, 510–11 and 521–24.
41.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 22; Remnick, The Bridge, 225–26 and 260; Garrow, Rising Star, 481–82.
42.Saul D. Alinsky, Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals (New York: Vintage Books, 1989), esp. 60–97; Judis, “Creation Myth.”
43.Judis, “Creation Myth”; Melinda Henneberger, “Saul Alinsky Would Be So Disappointed: Obama Breaks ‘Rules for Radicals,’ ” Washington Post, January 25, 2012, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/post/saul-alinsky-would-so-disappointed-sotu-breaks-rules-for-radicals/2012/01/24/gIQAt1cVPQ_blog.html. See also Frederick C. Harris, The Price of the Ticket: Barack Obama and the Rise and Decline of Black Politics (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), 44; Garrow, Rising Star, 372–74, 499–503 and 554–56.
44.Christopher Drew and Mike McIntire, “After 2000 Loss, Obama Built Donor Network from Roots Up,” New York Times, April 3, 2007, https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/us/politics/03obama.html; Remnick, The Bridge, 268–74.
45.Robin I. Mordfin, “From the Green Lounge to the White House,” Record (University of Chicago Alumni Magazine), Spring 2009, https://www.law.uchicago.edu/news/green-lounge-white-house; Remnick, The Bridge, 218–20.
46.Mendell, Obama, 105; Remnick, The Bridge, 260–61 and 269–70.
47.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 24; Mendell, Obama, 108; Remnick, The Bridge, 276–88; Andersen, Barack and Michelle, 169–72; John Presta, Mr. and Mrs. Grassroots, 18; Garrow, Rising Star, 507–8, 521–26, 538–42 and 546–47.
48.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 26–30; Remnick, The Bridge, 288–90; Garrow, Rising Star, 526–27 and 548–54; Mendell, Obama, 108–9.
49.Kathleen Henehan and Jeremy Schulman, “CNN Report Accusing Obama of ‘Getting a Little Dirty’ in Challenging Political Opponents Ignored Facts Undermining Allegations,” Media Matters, June 2, 2008, https://www.mediamatters.org/cnn/cnn-report-accusing-obama-getting-little-dirty-challenging-political-opponents-ignored-facts; Remnick, The Bridge, 290–92; Mendell, Obama, 109.
50.Remnick, The Bridge, 291–93; Mendell, Obama, 109–10; Garrow, Rising Star, 557–58 and 562; Michelle Obama, Becoming, 182–84.
51.Janny Scott, A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mother (New York, Riverhead Books, 2011), 343–54; Michelle Obama, Becoming,184; Remnick, The Bridge, 288. Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 30–31.
52.Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (New York: Penguin, 2006), dedication page; Remnick, The Bridge, 287–88; Garrow, Rising Star, 510 and 547.
53.Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope, 30; Scott, A Singular Woman, 281.
54.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 25–26.
55.Barack Obama, interview by David Axelrod, Full Transcript for the Axe Files, CNN, December 26, 2016, http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/26/politics/axe-files-obama-transcript/index.html; David Maraniss, “The 44th President Was His Mother’s Son,” Washington Post, May 11, 2012, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-44th-president-was-his-mothers-son/2012/05/11/gIQA6NV1IU_story.html; Stacy Schiff, “Obama’s Mother Ann Dunham Shaped His Success,” Newsweek, May 1, 2011, https://www.newsweek.com/obamas-mother-ann-dunham-shaped-his-success-67633; Scott, A Singular Woman, 274–77, 326–31, 335–42.
56.Scott, A Singular Woman, 104–5 and 362–66; Garrow, Rising Star, 421 and 470.
57.Scott, A Singular Woman, 354–56; Michelle Obama, Becoming, 184; Garrow, Rising Star, 549.
58.Jodi Kantor, “Inside Professor Obama’s Classroom,” New York Times, July 30, 2008, https://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/inside-professor-obamas-classroom; Garrow, Rising Star, 488, 497–98, and 575–76.
59.Mordfin, “From the Green Lounge to the White House”; Kantor, “Inside Professor Obama’s Classroom”; Tim Phelps, “Barack Obama: President and Lawyer-in-Chief,” U.S. News, December 29, 2016, https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2016-12-29/barack-obama-president-and-lawyer-in-chief; Remnick, The Bridge, 262–66; Garrow, Rising Star, 488, 497–98, 514–15, 565–66 and 613–15, 673, and 718–19.
60.Kantor, “Inside Professor Obama’s Classroom.”
61.Ibid.
62.Stacey Marlise Gahagan and Alfred L. Brophy, “Reading Professor Obama: Race and the American Constitutional Tradition,” University of Pittsburgh Law Review 75 (Summer 2014): 495, https://lawreview.law.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/lawreview/article/view/342; Kantor, “Inside Professor Obama’s Classroom”; Phelps, “Barack Obama: President and Lawyer-in-Chief”; Kloppenberg, Reading Obama, 69–71.
63.Kloppenberg, Reading Obama, 69–70; Garrow, Rising Star, 477–78.
64.John Cook, “Why We’re Talking about Barack Obama and Derrick Bell Now,” Gawker, March 8, 2012, http://gawker.com/5891738/why-were-talking-about-barack-obama-and-derrick-bell-now; David A. Graham, “Breitbart.com’s Massive Barack Obama-Derrick Bell Video Fail,” Atlantic, March 8, 2012, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive//2012/03/breitbartcoms-massive-barack-obama-derrick-bell-video-fall/254213; Tom Cohen, “Obama’s Harvard Law Professor Challenged U.S. Racism,” CNN Politics, March 9, 2012, https://www.cnn.com/2012/03/09/us/obamas-harvard-law-professor-challenged-u-s-racism; Gahagan and Brophy, “Reading Professor Obama,” 496; Ben Shapiro, “Why the Bell-Obama Connection Matters,” Townhall, March 14, 2012, https://patriotpost.us/opinion/12890-why-the-bell-obama-connection-matters-2012-03-14; Garrow, Rising Star, 409–11; Remnick, The Bridge, 211–14 and 262; Kloppenberg, Reading Obama, 66 and 70.
65.Gahagan and Brophy, “Reading Professor Obama,” 500–505; Kloppenberg, Reading Obama, 67–68; Graham, “Breibart.com’s Massive Barack Obama-Derrick Bell Video Fail.”
66.The quote is in Remnick, The Bridge, 284.
67.Ryan Lizza, “Making It: How Chicago Shaped Obama,” New Yorker, July 21, 2008, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/07/21/making-it; Chicago Sun-Times, “Springfield Remembers Obama as ‘A Chicago Guy … an Illinois Guy,’ ” January 10, 2017, https://chicago.suntimes.com/2017/1/10/18401882/springfield-remembers-obama-as-a-chicago-guy-an-illinois-guy; Mendell, Obama, 111.
68.Hank De Zutter, “What Makes Obama Run?” Chicago Reader, December 7, 1995, https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/what-makes-obama-run/Content?oid=889221; Mendell, Obama, 110.
69.De Zutter, “What Makes Obama Run?”; Remnick, The Bridge, 294–95.
70.Lizza, “Making It: How Chicago Shaped Obama”; Kenneth T. Walsh, “Obama’s Years in Chicago Politics Shaped His Presidential Candidacy,” U.S. News, April 11, 2008, https://www.usnews.com/news/campaign-2008/articles/2008/04/11/obamas-years-in-chicago-politics-shaped-his-presidential-candidacy.
71.Edward McClelland, Young Mr. Obama: Chicago and the Making of a Black President (New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2010), 122–26; Remnick, The Bridge, 288–89 and 296–300; Mendell, Obama, 114–15. In A Promised Land, Obama writes about his first term in the state senate in much more positive terms. Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 32.
72.Lizza, “Making It: How Chicago Shaped Obama”; McClelland, Young Mr. Obama, 122–24 and 188–92; Garrow, Rising Star, 597–99.
73.Jodi Kantor, The Obamas (New York: Back Bay Books, 2012), 18; Garrow, Rising Star, 520–21; Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 22.
74.Kantor, The Obamas, 18; Michelle Obama, Becoming, 174–86.
75.Kantor, The Obamas, 18–19; Remnick, The Bridge, 226–27 and 282–83; Michelle Obama, Becoming, 182–83.
76.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 35.
77.Ibid., 35–36; Michelle Obama, Becoming, 189; Mendell, Obama, 103.
78.Andersen, Barack and Michelle, 162–68; Scott, A Singular Women, 360; Mendell, Obama, 144; Garrow, Rising Star, 489–92 and 530–33; Michelle Obama, Becoming, 169–74. Of the 9,000 copies of Dreams from My Father sold, hundreds of them were bought and given away free during Obama’s campaign for state senate in 1996. Presta, Mr. and Mrs. Grassroots, 30.
79.Mendell, Obama, 122–23. See also Tom Purdum, “Raising Obama,” Vanity Fair, March 2008, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2008/03/obama200803; Kloppenberg, Reading Obama, 2; Lizza, “Making It: How Chicago Shaped Obama”; Remnick, The Bridge, 298–99; Garrow, Rising Star, 589–92, and 597–98.
80.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 32; Lizza, “Making It: How Chicago Shaped Obama”; Remnick, The Bridge, 298–99.
81.Barack Obama, Dreams from My Father (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2004), 223; Purdum, “Raising Obama”; McClelland, Young Mr. Obama, 210–11.
82.Jo Becker and Christopher Drew, “Pragmatic Politics, Forged on the South Side,” New York Times, May 11, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/us/politics/11chicago.html; Purdum, “Raising Obama”; Mendell, Obama, 123; Harris, The Price of the Ticket, 62–64; Remnick, The Bridge, 299; Garrow, Rising Star, 512.
83.Presta, Mr. and Mrs. Grassroots, 2–3; Dan Shomon, “Dan Shomon Inc.,” https://www.danshomon.com/dan-shomon-bio; Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 33 and 40; Harris, The Price of the Ticket, 66–67; Remnick, The Bridge, 299–300.
84.CBS, “Obama’s Political ‘Godfather’ in Illinois,” CBS Interactive, April 31, 2008, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/obamas-political-godfather-in-illinois/; Edward McClelland, “Why Emil Jones Jr. Took a Bullet for Obama,” June 11, 2010, https://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/The-Godfather-Took-a-Hit-for-Obamna-96140239.html; Garrett M. Graff, “The Legend of Barack Obama,” Washingtonian, November 1, 2006, https://www.washingtonian.com/2006/11/01/the-legend-of-barack-obama/. Purdum, “Raising Obama”; Mendell, Obama, 124; McClelland, Young Mr. Obama, 126–28; Remnick, The Bridge, 300–302; Garrow, Rising Star, 514, 603, 607–9, 616, 625–31, 644–46, 648–50, 652, 654–59.
85.Ted Kleine, “Is Bobby Rush in Trouble?” Chicago Reader, March 16, 2000, https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/is-bobby-rush-in-trouble/Content?oid=901745; Janny Scott, “In 2000, a Streetwise Veteran Schooled a Bold Young Obama,” New York Times, September 9, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/09/us/politics/09obama.html; Jonathan Kaufman, “For Obama, Chicago Days Honed Tactics,” Wall Street Journal, April 21, 2008, https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB120873956522230099. See also Harris, The Price of the Ticket, 58–59; Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 36–37; Michelle Obama, Becoming, 193–94; Walsh, “Obama’s Years in Chicago Politics Shaped His Presidential Candidacy”; Garrow, Rising Star, 645–46, 650–52, 659, 662–63, 669, and 12.
86.Scott, “In 2000, a Streetwise Veteran Schooled a Bold Young Obama”; Kleine, “Is Bobby Rush in Trouble?”; McClelland, Young Mr. Obama, 128–35 and 142–45; Garrow, Rising Star, 701.
87.The quote is from Kleine, “Is Bobby Rush in Trouble?” See also Scott, “In 2000, a Streetwise Veteran Schooled a Bold Young Obama”; Don Gonyea, “Obama’s Loss May Have Aided White House Bid,” National Public Radio, September 19, 2007, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyid=14502364; Harris, The Price of the Ticket, 41–45 and 60–61; Remnick, The Bridge, 316–22; Michelle Obama, Becoming, 19–98; Garrow, Rising Star, 703–4. On Reynolds, see also Garrow, Rising Star, 406–7 and 704.
88.Kleine, “Is Bobby Rush in Trouble?”; Garrow, Rising Star, 698.
89.Kleine, “Is Bobby Rush in Trouble?”; McClelland, Young Mr. Obama, 14–48; Harris, The Price of the Ticket, 60–61, and 659.
90.Scott, “In 2000, a Streetwise Veteran Schooled a Bold Young Obama”; Harris, The Price of the Ticket, 61; Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 37; Michelle Obama, Becoming, 196–97; Remnick, The Bridge, 323–31; Garrow, Rising Star, 677–78, 687–90, and 699. For an opposite view of who prevailed in the debate by one of Obama’s most ardent supporters, see Presta, Mr. and Mrs. Grassroots, 39–45.
91.Kleine, “Is Bobby Rush in Trouble?”; Scott, “In 2000, a Streetwise Veteran Schooled a Bold Young Obama”; Remnick, The Bridge, 330.
92.The quote is from Graff, “The Legend of Barack Obama.” See also Barack Obama, interview by Axelrod; Remnick, The Bridge, 330–31.
93.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 37–38; Barack Obama, interview by Axelrod; Remnick, The Bridge, 334; Garrow, Rising Star, 716–17.
94.Michelle Obama, Becoming, 199–200 and 203–7; Remnick, The Bridge, 331–32; Garrow, Rising Star, 662, 675, 721, and 736–37.
95.Remnick, The Bridge, 332–33; Garrow, Rising Star, 749–53.
96.Michelle Obama, Becoming, 203–13; Barack Obama, interview by Axelrod; Garrow, Rising Star, 58–59; Remnick, The Bridge, 336.
97.Michelle Obama, Becoming, 213; Garrow, Rising Star, 758–59; Remnick, The Bridge, 336.

3. The Presidential Run and the Earthquake of Iowa

1.John Presta, Mr. and Mrs. Grassroots: How Barack Obama, Two Bookstore Owners, and 300 Volunteers Did It (Paoli, PA: Elevator Group, 2010), 23–24.
2.David Remnick, The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama (New York: Vintage Books, 2011), 317–18.
3.Barack Obama, A Promised Land (New York: Crown, 2020), 40–41; Remnick, The Bridge, 319.
4.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 41–42.
5.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 42–43 and 46; Remnick, The Bridge, 304 and 341–42; Edward McClelland, Young Mr. Obama: Chicago and the Making of a Black President (New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2010), 172; David J. Garrow, Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama (New York: HarperCollins, 2017), 754; Hank De Zutter, “What Makes Obama Run?” Chicago Reader, December 7, 1995, https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/what-makes-obama-run/Content?oid=889221.
6.Jodi Wilgoren, “Illinois Senator Announces He Won’t Seek Re-Election,” New York Times, April 16, 2003, https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/16/us/illinois-senator-announces-he-won-t-seek-re-election.html; Remnick, The Bridge, 359–60; Garrow, Rising Star, 756–57, 791–92, and 814–15.
7.John S. Jackson, “The Making of a Senator: Barack Obama and the 2004 Illinois Senate Race,” Simon Review (Occasional Papers of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute), August 2006, page 6 (Simon Review Papers#4), https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=ppi_papers. See also Remnick, The Bridge, 367–70.
8.Jackson, “The Making of a Senator,” 7; Remnick, The Bridge, 375–76.
9.Jackson, “The Making of a Senator,” 10–11; Remnick, The Bridge, 374–75 and 378–81; Garrow, Rising Star, 832–33.
10.Jackson, “The Making of a Senator,” 8–10; Remnick, The Bridge, 376–77.
11.Ben Wallace-Wells, “Obama’s Narrator,” New York Times Magazine, April 1, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/01/magazine/01axelrod.t.html. Remnick, The Bridge, 363–64.
12.David Axelrod, Believer: My Forty Years in Politics (New York: Penguin, 2015), 8, 79–81; Wallace-Wells, “Obama’s Narrator”; Remnick, The Bridge, 365–66.
13.Salzman’s quote is in Ryan Lizza, “Making It: How Chicago Shaped Obama,” New Yorker, July 21, 2008, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/07/21/making-it. See also Axelrod, Believer, 119–20.
14.Axelrod, Believer, 119–21 and 137.
15.Ibid., 122.
16.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 43–44; Axelrod, Believer, 122–23; Remnick, The Bridge, 363–66; Garrow, Rising Star, 755–75.
17.Janny Scott, “In 2000, a Streetwise Veteran Schooled a Bold Young Obama,” New York Times, September 7, 2007, https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/09/us/politics/09obama.html; Garrow, Rising Star, 805–6, and 923.
18.Garrow, Rising Star, 777–78; Remnick, The Bridge, 365–66 and 404.
19.Quoted in Remnick, The Bridge, 337. See also Barack Obama, “President Obama Remarks,” C-Span, September 11, 2016, https://www.c-span.org/video/?314973-2/presidential-remarks-september-11-remembrance-ceremony-pentagon; Garrow, Rising Star, 742–43 and 747–48.
20.Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope (New York: Broadway Paperbacks, 2006), 293–95; Axelrod, Believer, 129–30; Remnick, The Bridge, 344–45; Garrow, Rising Star, 777–78.
21.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 46; Axelrod, Believer, 129–30; Garrow, Rising Star, 778.
22.“Transcript: Obama’s Speech against the Iraq War,” NPR, October 2, 2009, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99591469; Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope, 293–95; Remnick, The Bridge, 346–48; Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 47.
23.“Obama Speech against the War, Delivered by Supporters,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUV69LZbCNQ; Garrow, Rising Star, 786–87; Remnick, The Bridge, 346–49.
24.Axelrod, Believer, 130–31.
25.Garrow, Rising Star, 797–98, and 860–61.
26.Ibid., 861–63; Remnick, The Bridge, 370.
27.William Finnegan, “The Candidate: How the Son of a Kenyan Economist Became an Illinois Everyman,” New Yorker, May 31, 2004, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/05/31/the-candidate-5; Monica Davey, “The Speaker: A Surprise Senate Contender Reaches His Biggest Stage Yet,” New York Times, July 26, 2004, https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/26/us/the-speaker-a-surprise-senate-contender-reaches-his-biggest-stage-yet.html; Larissa MacFarquhar, “The Conciliator,” New Yorker, May 2007, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/05/14/larissa-macfarquhar-the-conciliator; Axelrod, Believer, 138–39; Remnick, The Bridge, 361–63.
28.Finnegan, “The Candidate”; Remnick, The Bridge, 370–71.
29.Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope.
30.Ibid.
31.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 47–49; Finnegan, “The Candidate”; Jackson, “The Making of a Senator”; Peter Slevin, “For Obama, A Handsome Payoff in Political Gambles,” Washington Post, November 13, 2007, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/12/AR2007111201945.html; Glen Justice, “In Races with One Deep Pocket, the Law Tries to Tailor a Second,” New York Times, October 17, 2003, https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/17/us/in-races-with-one-deep-pocket-the-law-tries-to-tailor-a-second.html; Lizza, “Making It”; Finnegan, “The Candidate”; Axelrod, Believer, 378–79; Garrow, Rising Star, 814 and 845.
32.Debbie Howlett, “Campaign 2004,” USA Today, March 18, 2004, https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/2004-03-18-obama-usat_x.htm; Monica Davey, “As Quickly as Overnight, a Democratic Star Is Born,” New York Times, March 18, 2004, https://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/18/us/as-quickly-as-overnight-a-democratic-star-is-born.html; Finnegan, “The Candidate”; Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 49; Remnick, The Bridge, 371–83; Axelrod, Believer, 142–45; Garrow, Rising Star, 872–84, 899, and 906.
33.Jackson, “The Making of a Senator”; Nancy Day, “The Battle for Illinois: Two Law School Alumni Square Off for a Pivotal U.S. Senate Seat,” Harvard Magazine, July-August 2004, http://harvardmagazine.com/2004/07/the-battle-for-illinois; Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 50; Remnick, The Bridge, 388.
34.Finnegan, “The Candidate”; Jackson, “The Making of a Senator”; Remnick, The Bridge, 388.
35.Jackson, “The Making of a Senator”; Remnick, The Bridge, 388–91; Garrow, Rising Star, 894–95 and 924–27.
36.Garrow, Rising Star, 926.
37.Alan Keyes, “Alan Keyes Discusses Homosexuality with Sirius OutQ,” Alan Keyes Archives, August 31, 2004, http://www.keyesarchives.com/transcript.php?id=340. See also “Mr. Keyes the Carpetbagger,” Washington Post, August 9, 2004, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2004/08/09/mr-keyes-the-carpetbagger/ccf8225e-9040-4087-ba11-9dbdd8d08260/; “Keyes Assails Obama’s Abortion Views,” NBC News, August 9, 2004, https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5654128; Garrow, Rising Star, 819, 945–52.
38.`Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 53–54; Jackson, “The Making of a Senator”; Garrow, Rising Star, 956–57.
39.Jackson, “The Making of a Senator,” 20–21.
40.Davey, “As Quickly as Overnight, a Democratic Star Is Born”; Bob Herbert, “A Leap of Faith,” New York Times, June 4, 2004, http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/04/opinion/a-leap-of-faith.html; Remnick, The Bridge, 384–87; Garrow, Rising Star, 902–3 and 928–31.
41.Axelrod, Believer, 155; Davey, “As Quickly as Overnight, a Democratic Star Is Born”; Herbert, “A Leap of Faith”; Davey, “The Speaker”; Remnick, The Bridge, 391–92.
42.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 51; Axelrod, Believer, 155–56; Liza Mundy, “A Series of Fortunate Events,” Washington Post, August 12, 2007, https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/08/AR2007080802038.html.
43.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 51.
44.Ibid., 51; Axelrod, Believer, 157; Remnick, The Bridge, 393–96.
45.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 51. Axelrod was also concerned that Obama’s delivery before the convention would be too wooden and that his audience would soon lose interest in the speech. To remedy that problem, he had Obama practice every day before the convention in order to get him to be more relaxed and his voice less stale. Axelrod, Believer, 158–59. See also Remnick, The Bridge, 394 and 396; Garrow, Rising Star, 936–37.
46.“Transcript: Illinois Senate Candidate Barack Obama,” Washington Post, July 27, 2004, https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19751-2004Jul27.html; Aaron Wood, “Great Speeches Analyzed,” June 7, 2011, http://speechesanalysed.blogspot.com/2011/06/first-analysis-obamas-2004-dnc-cpeech.html; Michelle Obama, Becoming (New York: Crown, 2018), 214; “Speech Analysis of Barack Obama,” n.d., https://www.slideshare.net/shreysoni/speech-analysis-of-barack-obama; Remnick, The Bridge, 397–98.
47.“Transcript: Illinois Senate Candidate Barack Obama”; Wood, “Great Speeches Analyzed”; “Speech Analysis of Barack Obama.”
48.Wood, “Great Speeches Analyzed”; David Welna, “Obama Stresses Hope, Opportunity at Convention,” NPR, July 18, 2004, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3624700; Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 52; Remnick, The Bridge, 399–400.
49.David A. Frank and Mark Lawrence McPhail, “Barack Obama’s Address to the 2004 Democratic National Convention: Trauma Compromise, Consilience, and the (Im)possibility of Racial Reconciliation,” Rhetoric and Public Affairs 8 (Winter 2005): http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/rap/summary/v008/8.4frank.html; Wood, “Great Speeches Analyzed.” See also Ron Walters, “Barack Obama and the Politics of Blackness,” Journal of Black Studies 38 (September, 2007): https://www.jstor.org/stable/40034399?seq=1; Michelle Obama, Becoming, 214–17; Remnick, The Bridge, 400–402; Garrow, Rising Star, 939–42.
50.Wood, “Great Speeches Analyzed”; Remnick, The Bridge, 401.
51.Remnick, The Bridge, 403–4.
52.Garrow, Rising Star, 903; Remnick, The Bridge, 456–57 and 490–91.
53.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 55–58.
54.Ibid., 61–62; Remnick, The Bridge, 437–40.
55.Patti Villacora, “Hope(fund) and Change: Breaking the Obama Code,” American Thinker, March 16, 2010, https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2010/03/hopefund_and_change_breaking_t_1.html; Kathy Gill, “Barack Obama: Political Career of Barack Obama,” Thought Co., August 8, 2017, https://www.thoughtco.com/barack-obamas-political-career-3368167; David Plouffe, The Audacity to Win: How Obama Won and How We Can Beat Back the Party of Limbaugh, Beck, and Palin (New York: Penguin, 2010), 6, 417–20; Remnick, The Bridge, 390 and 402–4.
56.Axelrod, Believer, 157; Alyssa Mastromonaco, “What I Learned from 10 Years Working with Barack Obama,” Marie Claire, March 16, 2017, https://www.marieclaire.com/politics/a26023/alyssa-mastromonaco-barack-obama/; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 5–6.
57.Don Babwin, “Obama Kicks Off Book Tour in Chicago,” Washington Post, October 1, 2006, https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/17/AR2006101700908.html; Remnick, The Bridge, 403–4; Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 59.
58.Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope, 21, 37, and 201.
59.Ibid., 38–39.
60.Ibid., 63.
61.Michelle Obama, Becoming, 220–21; Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 62–63. For the destruction of the storm and the Bush administration’s response to it, see Douglas Brinkley, The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast (New York: Harper Perennial), 2006.
62.Axelrod, Believer, 157; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 10: Richard Wolffe, Renegade: The Making of a President (New York: Crown, 2009), 25.
63.Wolffe, Renegade, 38–40 and 68–69; Remnick, The Bridge, 459.
64.Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 10–13; Remnick, The Bridge, 459–65.
65.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 65–67.
66.Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 12–13; Axelrod, Believer, 192; Wolffe, Renegade, 53.
67.Wolffe, Renegade, 4–5; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 10–13.
68.“Barack Obama: How He Did It,” Newsweek, November 4, 2008, https://www.newsweek.com/barack-obama-how-he-did-it-85083; Garrow, Rising Star, 757–59; Remnick, The Bridge, 464–65; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 11–12; Wolffe, Renegade, 51.
69.“Barack Obama: How He did It”; Remnick, The Bridge, 314–15, 332–33; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 12–13; Garrow, Rising Star, 841–42; Michelle Obama, Becoming, 220–25; Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 70–71.
70.Michelle Obama, Becoming, 222–23; Jodi Kantor, The Obamas (New York: Little, Brown, 2012), 26–27; “Barack Obama: How He Did It”; Wolffe, Renegade, 52–57.
71.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 71.
72.Michelle Obama, Becoming, 225–26; Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 71; Kantor, The Obamas, 28.
73.Jaime Fuller, “How People Responded to Obama’s Presidential Bid in 2007,” Washington Post, February 20, 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/02/10/how-people-responded-to-obamas-presidential-bid-in-2007/.
74.Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 14–16; Wolffe, Renegade, 65–68.
75.Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 14–16; Wolffe, Renegade, 65–68.
76.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 47 and 130–31; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 16–17.
77.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 130–31.
78.Adam Nagourney, “The ’08 Campaign: Sea Change for Politics as We Know It,” New York Times, November 3, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/us/politics/04memo.html; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 15, 21, 23, 33–36, 50, and 77; Axelrod, Believer, 176–78; Wolffe, Renegade, 75–76 and 80–82.
79.“Barack Obama, How He Did It”; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 52–53; Wolffe, Renegade, 74; Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 135–36.
80.Quoted in “Barack Obama: How He Did It.” Obama’s remarks were on tapes that Newsweek obtained and were published in a story about the Obama campaign on election day; Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 137–40; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 3–74; Remnick, The Bridge, 403–4.
81.Quoted in “Barack Obama: How He Did It.” See also Remnick, The Bridge, 404–5; Axelrod, Believer, 221–24; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 46–47, and 56–62; Garrow, Rising Star, 837, and 906–8.
82.Betsy Myers, Take the Lead: Motivate, Inspire, and Bring Out the Best in Yourself and Everyone around You (New York: Atria Books, 2011), 21–24, 26, 87–88, 186–87, and 195; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 46–47; Mendell, Obama, 377–78; Wolffe, Renegade, 95–96; Garrow, Rising Star, 1035–36.
83.Lynn Sweet, “Obama, First Lady Michelle, Invite Edith Childs—She Coined ‘Fired Up, Ready to Go’—to White House,” Chicago Sun-Times, December 26, 2009, https://web.archive.org/web/20140330052950/httpp://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2009/12/obama_first_lady_michelle_invi.html.
84.Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 110–15; Wolffe, Renegade, 87–92.
85.Barack Obama, “Speech at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner,” American Rhetoric, November 10, 2007, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamajeffersonjacksondinner.htm; Plouffe, Renegade, 92–93.
86.Crowley’s and Frank-Ruta’s remarks are in The Daily Dish, “Obama at Jefferson-Jackson,” Atlantic, November 11, 2007, https://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2007/11/obama-at-jefferson-jackson/223727/; Ana Marie Cox, “Can Obama Rock the Nomination?” Time, November 11, 2007, http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1682827,00.html. See also Richard Lowry, “Barack Obama’s Jefferson-Jackson Dinner Speech—Then and Now,” National Review, July 7, 2008, https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/barack-obamas-jefferson-jackson-dinner-speech-then-and-now-rich-lowry/.
87.Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 108–9.
88.Roger Simon, “Jefferson-Jackson a Warm-Up for Iowa,” Politico, November 11, 2000, https://www.politico.com/story/2007/11/jefferson-jackson-a-warm-up-for-iowa-006815; Axelrod, Believer, 116; Remnick, The Bridge, 480–84; Wolffe. Renegade, 91; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 38 and 121–22.
89.Dan Balz, Anne E. Kornblut, and Shailagh Murray, “Obama Wins Iowa’s Democratic Caucuses,” Washington Post, January 4, 2008, web page no longer available; Wolffe, Renegade, 85.
90.Remnick, The Bridge, 493–94.

4. From Iowa to President-Elect

1.“Barack Obama’s Caucus Speech,” New York Times, January 3, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/03/us/politics/03obama-transcript.html.
2.Richard Wolffe, Renegade: The Making of a President (New York: Crown, 2009), 104–19; David Plouffe, The Audacity to Win: How Obama Won and How We Can Beat the Party of Limbaugh, Beck, and Palin (New York: Penguin, 2010), 142–45; John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime (New York: HarperCollins, 2010), 177–82 and 187–88.
3.David Axelrod claimed later that he was worried from the start about the outcome in New Hampshire because of the sympathy for Clinton now that she was no longer the front-runner for the nomination. David Axelrod, Believer: My Forty Years in Politics (New York: Penguin, 2015), 250–51. See also James W. Ceaser, Andrew E. Busch, and John J. Pitney Jr., Epic Journey: The 2008 Elections and American Politics (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2009), 114–15; Evan Thomas, “A Long Time Coming”: The Inspiring, Combative 2008 Campaign and the Historic Election of Barack Obama (New York: Public Affairs, 2009), 28–29; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 145–46.
4.Quoted in Wolffe, Renegade, 110. Edwards received 16.9 percent of the vote and four delegates to the national convention. Axelrod, Believer, 252–56; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 146–47 and 157; Ceaser, Busch, and Pitney Jr., Epic Journey, 115–16; Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, 183–91 and 201–2.
5.Plouffe, Audacity to Win, 157; David Remnick, The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama (New York: Vintage, 2011), 496–508; Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, 202–3, 205–15.
6.Election Center 2008, “Bill Clinton: What Happened in South Carolina a ‘Myth,’ ” CNN, March 17, 2008, http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/17/clinton.bill/index.html; Patrick Healy, “In S. Carolina, It’s Obama vs. Clinton. That’s Bill Clinton,” New York Times, January 22, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/us/politics/22clinton.html; Axelrod, Believer, 258–59; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 157–62; Wolffe, Renegade, 110 and 195–99; Remnick, The Bridge, 510–12; Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, 197–98.
7.“Why the Kennedys Went for Obama,” Time, January 21, 2008, http://content.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1707700,00.html; Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, 218–22; Remnick, The Bridge, 508–9; Axelrod, Believer, 259–61; Ceaser, Busch, and Pitney Jr., Epic Journey, 116–17; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 117–19, 155, and 165–66; Wolffe, Renegade, 94–95, 199–200.
8.Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 164–65; Axelrod, Believer, 262–63; Ceaser, Busch, and Pitney Jr., Epic Journey, 18; Heileman and Halperin, Game Change, 223.
9.Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 167–75; Ceaser, Busch, and Pitney Jr., Epic Journey, 118.
10.Adam Nagourney, “Neck and Neck, Democrats Woo Superdelegates,” New York Times, February 10, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/world/americas/10iht-10superdelegates.9899121.html; Adam Nagourney, “Obama’s Lead in Delegates Shift Focus of Campaign,” New York Times, February 14, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/14/us/politics/14delegates.html; Ceaser, Busch, and Pitney Jr., Epic Journey, 118; Axelrod, Believer, 264–65; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 179–82; Thomas, “A Long Time Coming,” 66; Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, 224–25.
11.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 138–39.
12.Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 164–65.
13.Ron Walters, “Barack Obama and the Politics of Blackness,” Black Studies 38 (September 2007): 7–29.
14.Quoted in Walters, “Barack Obama and the Politics of Blackness,” 14; John Harris and Mike Allen, “Obama Supported by Wilder,” Politico, August 28, 2007, https://www.politico.com/story/2007/08/obama-supported-by-wilder-005518; “Douglas Wilder on Race, Politics and America,” NPR, October 15, 2008, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95739248. See also Jeff Zelany, “When It Comes to Race, Obama Makes His Point with Subtlety,” Chicago Tribune, June 26, 2005, https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-050626obama-race-archive-story.html; Stanley A. Renshon, Barack Obama and the Politics of Redemption (New York: Routledge, 2012), 84–87.
15.Remnick, The Bridge, 517–19; Obama, The Audacity of Hope, 206–7; Ceaser, Busch, and Pitney Jr., Epic Journey, 119. On Wright see also Stephen Mansfield, The Faith of Barack Obama (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2008), 36–43.
16.Obama, A Promised Land, 23 and 120; Remnick, The Bridge, 520–21; Axelrod, Believer, 269–71; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 207–10.
17.Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, 229–30.
18.Robert Farley, “Obama Served on Board with Ayers,” PolitiFact, April 26, 2008, http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meters/statements/2008/apr/16/hillary-clinton/obama-served-on-board-with-ayers/; Christopher Cooper, “Woods Fund Could Become Obama’s ‘Swift Boat,’ ” Wall Street Journal, April 18, 2008, https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB120848023736325005; Ezra Klein, “The Woods Fund,” American Prospect, May 2, 2008, http://prospect.org/article/woods-fund; Drew Griffin and Kathleen Johnston, “Ayers and Obama Crossed Paths on Boards, Record Shows,” CNN, October 7, 2008, http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/07/obama.ayers/.
19.Bob Drogin and Dan Morain, “Obama and the Former Radicals,” Los Angeles Times, April 18, 2008, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-apr-18-na-radicals18-story.html; Ryan Lizza, “Making It: How Chicago Shaped Obama,” New Yorker, July 21, 2008, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/07/21/making-it; Farley, “Obama Served on Board with Ayers”; Cooper, “Woods Fund Could Become Obama’s ‘Swift Boat.’ ”
20.Obama, A Promised Land, 139–40; Heileman and Halperin, Game Change, 231–32; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 189–203; Axelrod, Believer, 266–68; Wolffe, Renegade, 203; Ceaser, Busch, and Pitney Jr., Epic Journey, 119.
21.Peter Slevin, “Senator Says He Regrets Land Deal with Fund Raiser,” LJWorld, December 18, 2006, https://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/dec/18/senator_says_he_regrets_land_deal/; Axelrod, Believer, 271–72.
22.Christopher Drew and Mike McIntire, “An Obama Patron and Friend until an Indictment,” New York Times, June 14, 2007, https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/14/us/politics/14rezko.html; Robert Farley, “Obama’s Rezko Connection,” PolitiFact, June 19, 2008, http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2008/oct/25/obamas-rezko-connection; Slevin, “Obama Says He Regrets Land Deal with Fund Raiser”; Brian Ross and Rhonda Schwartz, “The Rezko Connection: Obama’s Achilles Heel?” ABC News, June 2007, https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/rezko-connection-obamas-achilles-heel/story?id=4111483; Thomas, “A Long Time Coming,” 70–71; Remnick, The Bridge, 521; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 196–97.
23.Quoted in “Seven Years Ago Today: Obama’s ‘A More Perfect Union’ Speech,” Constitution Daily (blog), National Constitution Center, March 18, 2015, https://www.yahoo.com/news/five-years-ago-today-obama-more-perfect-union-102607846.html; Obama, A Promised Land, 141. See also Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, 233–35; Wolffe, Renegade, 203.
24.Obama, A Promised Land, 141–42; Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, 236–37; Remnick, The Bridge, 521–22; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 211–12; Axelrod, Believer, 271–73.
25.“Barack Obama’s Speech on Race,” New York Times, March 13, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/us/politics/18text-obama.html; Remnick, The Bridge, 24; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 212–13.
26.“Barack Obama’s Speech on Race.”
27.Ibid.
28.Ibid.
29.Ibid.
30.Ibid.
31.Ibid.; Thomas, “A Long Time Coming,” 73–74.
32.“Barack Obama’s Speech on Race”; Larissa MacFarquhar, “The Conciliator: Where Is Barack Obama Coming From?” New Yorker, May 7, 2007, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/05/07/the-conciliator; Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, 238.
33.The quote is from “Obama’s Speech on Race Draws Diverse Local Reactions,” Minnpost, March 3, 2008, https://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2008/03/obamas-speech-race-draws-diverse-local-reactions.
34.The quotes are from Amanda Paulson, “Obama’s Speech Opens Up Race Dialogue,” Christian Science Monitor, March 21, 2008, https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2008/0321/p01s02-uspo.html; “Hardball College Tour at Villanova University,” April 15, 2004, https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna24148308. See also Jay Newton-Small, “Reaction to the Obama Speech,” Time Magazine, March 18, 2008, http://content.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1723442,00.html; Roy Peter Clark, “Why It Worked: A Rhetorical Analysis of Obama’s Speech on Race,” Poynter, October 20, 2017, https://www.poynter.org/news/why-it-worked-rhetorical-analysis-obamas-speech-race; Remnick, The Bridge, 524–27; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 213–14: Axelrod, Believer, 274–75.
35.Marc Ambinder, “Obama’s ‘Gaffe’: Some Perspective,” Atlantic, April 11, 2008, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2008/04/obamas-gaffe-some-perspective/52638/; Allison Keyes, “Obama Catches Flak for Remarks on Working Class,” NPR, April 12, 2008, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89588766; Katharine Q. Seelye and Jeff Zeleny, “On the Defensive, Obama Calls His Words Ill-Chosen,” New York Times, April 13, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/us/politics/13campaign.html; Mayhill Fowler, “Obama: No Surprise That Hard-Pressed Pennsylvanians Turn Bitter,” HuffPost, April 6, 2008, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/mayhill-fowler/obama-no-surprise-that-ha_b_96188.html; “2008 Democratic Popular Vote,” Real Clear Politics, n.d., https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/democratic_vote_count.html; Obama, A Promised Land, 143–46; Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, 241–42; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 214–21; Ceaser, Busch, and Pitney Jr., Epic Journey, 120–21.
36.Quoted in Remnick, The Bridge, 528. See also Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 223–24; Axelrod, Believer, 278–79; Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, 245.
37.Quoted in Remnick, The Bridge, 530. Obama, A Promised Land, 146–47; See also Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, 246–47; Wolffe, Renegade, 181–85; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 224–25.
38.Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, 248–49; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 230–31.
39.Andy Sullivan, “Democrats in Standoff over Florida, Michigan Votes,” Reuters, February 15, 2008, https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-politics-dispute/democrats-in-standoff-over-florida-michigan-votes-idUSN1552334220080215; Michael Luo and John M. Broder, “Delegate Battles Snarl Democrats in Two States,” New York Times, March 15, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/15/us/politics/15donate.html; John Jackson, “The 2008 Presidential Nominations Process, a Marathon and a Sprint: An Analysis of What Happened and Why,” Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, September 7, 2008, https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=ppi_papers; Ceaser, Busch, and Pitney Jr., Epic Journey, 117; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 232–33.
40.Michael Falcone, “D.N.C. Cuts Fla., Mich. Votes in Half,” The Caucus (blog), New York Times, May 31, 2008, https://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/31/the-dnc-deliberates/?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=FF73E3F8CD91472B24A517735381306B&gwt=pay&assetType=PAYWALL; Jackson, “The 2008 Presidential Nominations Process, a Marathon and a Sprint”; Ceaser, Busch, and Pitney Jr., Epic Journey, 117.
41.Remnick, The Bridge, 530–31; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 225–31; Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, 251–59.
42.Wolffe, Renegade, 206–7; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 232–33 and 240–43; Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, 260–61 and 266.
43.“Hillary Clinton Endorses Barack Obama: Transcript,” New York Times, June 7, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/07/us/politics/07text-clinton.html; “2008 Democratic Popular Vote,” Real Clear Politics; Remnick, The Bridge, 512–16; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 233–36 and 243–44; Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, 261–62; Obama, A Promised Land, 151.
44.Obama, A Promised Land, 150.
45.Ibid., 150.
46.Brooks Jackson, “Obama’s Lame Claim about McCain’s Money,” June 20, 2008, FactCheck.Org, https://www.factcheck.org/2008/06/obamas-lame-claim-about-mccains-money/. See also “The Democratic Debate in Cleveland: Transcript,” New York Times, February 26, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/26/us/politics/26text-debate.html.
47.Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 247–59; Obama, A Promised Land, 152–53; Wolffe, Renegade, 211–12; Amy Hollyfield, “McCain Says ‘Accept’; Obama Says ‘Pursue,’ ” PolitiFact, March 3, 2008, http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2008/mar/03/john-mccain/mccain-says-accept-obama-says-pursue.
48.Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 257–63; Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, 326–27.
49.The full text of Obama’s video to his supporters can be found in Jackson, “Obama’s Lame Claim about McCain’s Money.” See also “The Democratic Debate in Cleveland: Transcript.”
50.Jackson, “Obama’s Lame Claim about McCain’s Money.” See also “The Democratic Debate in Cleveland: Transcript.”
51.In fairness to Obama, his pledge to accept public financing was never absolute. As he later explained, “In February 2007, I proposed a novel way to preserve the strength of the public financing system. My plan requires both major party candidates to agree on a fundraising truce, return excess money from donors, and stay within the public financing system for the general election.” In an op-ed in USA Today a year later, he used almost exactly the same language in reaffirming his conditional commitment to public financing. “I propose a meaningful agreement in good faith that results in real spending limits,” he wrote. “The candidates will have to commit to discouraging cheating by supporters, to refusing fundraising help to outside groups; and to limiting their own parties to legal forms.” On the basis of these and other statements, PolitiFacts, which evaluated the truthfulness of candidates’ remarks, concluded in March 2008, “It would appear then, from public statements, that Obama and McCain both wanted a publicly funded general election.” The point remains, however, that McCain could never accept the terms Obama proposed. Alan Silverlieb, “Analysis: Rejecting Public Funding Won’t Hurt Obama,” CNN, June 20, 2008, http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/20/obama.financing/;Adam Nagourney and Jeff Zeleny, “Obama Forgoes Public Funds in First for Major Candidate,” New York Times, June 20, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/20/us/politics/20obamacnd.html; Jackson, “Obama’s Lame Claim about McCain’s Money”; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win.
52.“Public Financing on the Ropes,” New York Times, June 20, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/20/opinion/20fri1.html; Ewen MacAskill, “Obama Tarnished by Rejecting Public Funds for Election Fight,” Guardian, June 21, 2008, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jun/21/barackobama.uselections2008; Leslie Wayne, “Obama’s Decision Threatens Public Financing System,” New York Times, June 20, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/20/us/politics/20finance.html; Michael Dobbs, “Obama Reneges on Public Financing,” Washington Post, June 20, 2009, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/06/obama_reneges_on_public_financ.html; Obama for America Organization, “Sen. Barack Obama-Democratic Nominee for President,” n.d., http://p2008.org/cands08/obamamain.html.
53.“Alan Silverleib, “Analysis: Rejecting Public Funding Won’t Hurt Obama,” CNN, June 20, 2008, http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/20/obama.financing/; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 237; John K. Wilson, Barack Obama: This Improbable Quest (Boulder, CO: Paradigm, 2008), 14–16.
54.Dorothy Wickenden, “What’s the Big Idea?” New Yorker, June 30, 2008, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/06/30/whats-the-big-idea; Matthew Mosk, “An Attack That Came Out of the Ether,” Washington Post, June 2, 2008, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/27/AR2008062703781.html.
55.Barbara Bradley Hagerty, “Obama’s Religious Rhetoric Puts Faith in Spotlight,” NPR, April 13, 2009, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89598497. See also Wilson, Barack Obama, 134–35.
56.“Obama’s Speech on Faith and Politics,” New York Times, June 18, 2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/28/us/politics/2006obamaspeech.html; Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope (New York: Random House, 2006), 202–4; Lisa Miller, “Barack Obama’s Christian Journey,” Newsweek, July 11, 2008, http://www.newsweek.com/cover-story-barack-obamas—christian-journey-92611.
57.Obama, The Audacity of Hope, 204–5; Wilson, Barack Obama, 139–40.
58.Mansfield, The Faith of Barack Obama, xvi.
59.Jodi Kantor, “Barack Obama’s Search for Faith,” New York Times, April 30, 2007, https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/world/americas/30iht-30obama.5501905.html.
60.Obama, The Audacity of Hope, 202 and 206; Wilson, Barack Obama, 136.
61.Obama, The Audacity of Hope, 206. See also Peniel E. Joseph, “Why the Black Church Has Always Mattered,” The Root, June 19, 2015, https://www.theroot.com/why-the-black-church-has-always-mattered-1790860217; Miller, “Barack Obama’s Christian Journey.”
62.Mansfield, The Faith of Barack Obama, 43–47; Kantor, “Barack Obama’s Search for Faith”; Wilson, Barack Obama, 135–36.
63.Obama, The Audacity of Hope, 206–8; Wilson, Barack Obama, 138–39; Miller, “Barack Obama’s Christian Journey.”
64.The text of the speech can be found in “Obama Delivers Speech on Faith in America,” New York Times, July 1, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/01/us/politics/01obama-text.html. See also Mayhill Fowler, “Obama, God and Governance,” HuffPost, July 16, 2008, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/mayhill-fowler/obamas-faith-based-govern_b_111393.html; Adam Nagourney and Jeff Zeleny, “Obama Takes the Fight to McCain,” New York Times, August 29, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/29/us/politics/29dems.html; Kantor, “Barack Obama’s Search for Faith.” For the reaction of skeptics on both the right and the left to Obama’s views on faith, see also Wilson, Barack Obama, 131–34.
65.Fowler, “Obama, God and Governance.”
66.Robert Draper, “The Making (and Remaking) of McCain,” New York Times Magazine, October 22, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/magazine/26mccain-t.html; Ceaser, Busch, and Pitney Jr., Epic Journey, 133–34.
67.Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), “Campaign Themes, Strategies, and Developments,” n.d., https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/pages/instructors/setups2008/campaign-strategies.html; Ceaser, Busch, and Pitney Jr., Epic Journey, 135; Remnick, The Bridge, 537; Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, 264.
68.Obama, A Promised Land, 153–60 and 162–65; Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, 271–79; Ceaser, Busch, and Pitney Jr., Epic Journey, 135–36; Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, 329–30.
69.Draper, “The Making (and Remaking) of McCain”; Ceaser, Busch, and Pitney Jr., Epic Journey, 138.
70.Draper, “The Making (and Remaking) of McCain”; Ceaser, Busch, and Pitney Jr., Epic Journey, 138; Jodi Kantor, “A Consistent Yet Elusive Nominee,” New York Times, August 2, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/28/us/politics/28obamaQM.html; Remnick, The Bridge, 542–43.
71.Jennifer Brown, “Obama Accepts Democratic Nomination,” Denver Post, August 28, 2008, https://www.denverpost.com/2008/08/28/obama-accepts-democratic-nomination/; Ceaser, Busch, and Pitney Jr., Epic Journey, 140–41.
72.Obama, A Promised Land, 167–68; “Transcript: Barack Obama’s Acceptance Speech,” NPR, August 28, 2008, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96624326.
73.“Transcript: Barack Obama’s Acceptance Speech.”
74.Ibid.; Steve Gorman, “Obama Acceptance Speech Believed to Set TV Record,” Reuters, August 29, 2008, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-politics-ratings-idUSN2945249120080829. See also Brown, “Obama Accepts Democratic Nomination.”
75.Ceaser, Busch, and Pitney Jr., Epic Journey.
76.“Evangelicals Energized by McCain-Palin Ticket,” Oklahoman, August 30, 2008, https://www.oklahoman.com/article/3291041/evangelicals-energized-by-mccain-palin-ticket; “McCain Choose ‘Hockey Mom’ as Running Mate,” Jackson Free Press, August 29, 2008, https://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2008/aug/29/mccain-chooses-alaska-hockey-mom-as-running-mate/; Toby Harnden, “John McCain Picks Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as Republican Running Mate,” Telegraph, August 29, 2008, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/johnmccain/2646415/John-McCain-picks-Alaska-governor-Sarah-Palin-as-Republican-running-mate.html; Draper, “The Making (and Remaking) of McCain”; Ceaser, Busch, and Pitney Jr., Epic Journey, 142.
77.“Transcript of Palin’s Speech at the Republican National Convention,” New York Times, September 3, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/elections/2008/president/conventions/videos/transcripts/20080903_PALIN_SPEECH.html.
78.Obama, A Promised Land, 169–70; Michael Calderone, “Media Swoon over Palin’s Fiery Speech,” Politico, September 4, 2008, https://www.politico.com/story/2008/09/media-swoon-over-palins-fiery-speech-013148. See also Mark Halperin, “The Palin Pick: Bold or Disastrous,” Time Magazine, August 29, 2008, http://content.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1837514,00.html.
79.“Transcript of John McCain’s Acceptance Speech,” New York Times, September 4, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/elections/2008/president/conventions/videos/transcripts/20080904_MCCAIN_SPEECH.html.
80.Ibid.
81.“Transcript: Barack Obama’s Acceptance Speech.” See also ICPSR, “Campaign Themes, Strategies, and Developments.”
82.“Transcript of John McCain’s Acceptance Speech.”
83.“Frank Rich Puts Palin in Perspective,” September 7, 2008, http://sociologistsforobama.blogspot.com/2008/09/frank-rich-puts-palin-in-perspective.html; John Tolson, “John McCain and Barack Obama: How They Speak to Voters,” U.S. News and World Report, October 22, 2008, https://www.usnews.com/news/campaign-2008/articles/2008/10/22/mccain-and-obama-how-they-speak-to-voters.
84.John Whitesides, “McCain’s Surge: After Convention, He Catches Obama,” Reuters, September 3, 2008, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-politics/mccains-surge-after-convention-he-catches-obama-idUSN0847083820080909; Frank Newport, “Republicans’ Enthusiasm Jumps after Convention,” Gallup, September 8, 2008, https://news.gallup.com/poll/110107/republicans-enthusiasm-jumps-after-convention.aspx; “Gallup Daily: McCain Maintains 5-Point Lead,” September 9, 2008, https://news.gallup.com/poll/110143/gallup-daily-mccain-maintains-5point-lead-aspx; “The Palin Phenomenon Drives Campaign Coverage,” Pew Research Center, September 8, 2008, http://www.journalism.org/2008/09/08/pej-campaign-coverage-index-september-1-7-2008/; Matthew Mosk, “McCain Gets $7 Million Bounce from Palin Pick,” Washington Post, August 30, 2008, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2008/08/mccain-gets-7-million-bounce-f.html.
85.Scott Conroy, “Palin’s Husband Was Arrested in 1986 for DUI,” CBS News, September 2, 2008, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/palins-husband-was-arrested-in-1986-for-dui/; “Is Palin an Evangelical,” Christianity Today, August 30, 2008, https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2008/august/is-palin-evangelical.html; Ceaser, Busch, and Pitney Jr., Epic Journey, 143. See also Charles Krauthammer, “The Palin Puzzle,” Washington Post, August 29, 2008, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2008/08/the_palin_puzzle.html; Ben Smith, “Noonan, Murphy Trash Palin on Hot Mike: It’s Over,” Politico, September 3, 2008, https://www.politico.com/blogs/ben-smith/2008/09/noonan-murphy-trash-palin-on-hot-mike-its-over-011554.
86.Patrick Healy and Michael Luo, “$150,000 Wardrobe for Palin May Alter Tailor-Made Image,” New York Times, October 22, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/us/politics/23palin.html; Michael Joseph Gross, “Sarah Palin’s Shopping Spree: Yes, There’s More,” Vanity Fair, October 2010, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2010/10/sarah-palin-spending-201010; Jean Cummings, “RNC Shells Out $150K for Palin Fashion,” Politico, October 21, 2008, https://www.politico.com/story/2008/10/rnc-shells-out-150k-for-palin-fashion-014805; Martin Peretz, “Krauthammer Almost Throws in the Towel,” October 3, 2008, https://newrepublic.com/article/44869/krauthammer-almost-throws-the-towel; Katha Pollitt, “The End of Meritocracy,” Guardian, September 20, 2008, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2008/sep/29/sarah.palin.feminism.election.
87.Katie Couric, “One on One with Sarah Palin,” CBS News, September 24, 2008, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/one-on-one-with-sarah-palin/; “Transcript: Palin and McCain Interview,” CBS News, September 30, 2008, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/transcript-palin-and-mccain-interview/; Nico Pitney, “Palin Talks Russia with Katie Couric,” Huffington Post, November 3, 2008, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/25/palin-talks-russia-with-k_n_129318.html; Tim Mak, “5 Best Couric-Palin Moments,” Politico, April 2, 2012, https://www.politico.com/story/2012/04/5-best-couric-palin-2008-moments-074735.
88.“Tina Fey as Sarah Palin: Katie Couric SNL Skit,” Huffington Post, September 27, 2008, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/27/tina-fey-as-sarah-palin-k_n_129956.html.
89.Obama, A Promised Land, 170; “Post-Debate: Palin Still Seen as Unqualified, a Bump for Biden,” Pew Research Center, October 6, 2008, https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2008/10/06/post-debate-palin-still-seen-as-unqualified-a-bump-for-biden/; Mary Lu Carnevale, “WSJ/NBC Poll: Voters Doubt Palin’s Qualifications to Be President,” Wall Street Journal, September 24, 2008, https://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/09/24/wsjnbc-poll-voters-doubt-palins-qualifications-to-be-president/.
90.Michael Cooper and Dalia Sussman, “Growing Doubts on Palin Take a Toll, Poll Finds,” New York Times, October 30, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/31/us/politics/31poll.html. “Michael Palin ‘Better Running Mate’ Than Sarah Palin,” Telegraph, September 21, 2008, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/sarah-palin/3043219/Michael-Palin-better-running-mate-than-Sarah-Palin.html; Eric Gorski, “Younger Evangelicals Split over Palin Choice,” Fox News, September 14, 2008, https://www.denverpost.com/2008/09/14/younger-evangelicals-split-over-palin/.
91.John K. Wilson, “Obama Media Bias: Little Evidence for Self-Proclaimed ‘Lovefest,’ ” Fair, September 10, 2008, http://fair.org/extra/the-myth-of-pro-obama-media-bias/; Frank Rich, “The Terrorist Barack Hussein Obama,” New York Times, October 11, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/11/us/politics/11acorn.html; Jim Rutenberg, “The Man Behind the Whispers about Obama,” New York Times, October 12, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/us/politics/13martin.html; Griffin and Johnston, “Ayers and Obama Crossed Paths on Boards, Records Show”; “Anyone Could Do This in Photoshop,” Wikileaks, n.d., https://wikileak.org/wiki/Talk:Obama_1961_birth_announcement_from_…_announcement_was _first_posted_online_Summer_2008_-_This_is_not_new; Jack Cashill, “Why Obama Is Mum about Harvard,” WorldNetDaily, September 11, 2008, http://www.wnd.com/2008/09/74877/; Rich, “The Terrorist Barack Hussein Obama.”
92.Stephanie Strom, “On Obama, ACORN, and Voter Registration,” New York Times, October 10, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/11/us/politics/11acorn.html; Angie Drobnic Holan, “Project Vote Not ‘An Arm of ACORN,’ ” PolitiFact, October 17, 2008, http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2008/oct/17/john-mccain/project-vote-not-an-arm-of-acorn/.
93.David Welna, “McCain and Bush: Common Ground on War, Torture,” NPR, June 16, 2008, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyld=91560330; Heilemann and Haleperin, Game Change, 316.
94.“Top 10 Conservative Endorsements for Obama,” Common Mistakesblog, November 2, 2008, http://www.commonmistakesblog.com/2008/11/top-10-conservatives-endorsing-obama.html; Ron Chusid, “Peggy Noonan Makes a Case for Barack Obama,” Liberal Values, October 31, 2008, http://www.liberalvaluesblog.com/2008/10/31/peggy-noonan-makes-a-case-for-barack-obama. See also “Christopher Hitchens on Why He’s Voting for Obama,” Fox News, October 21, 2008, http://www.foxnews.com/story/2008/10/21/christopher-hitchens-on-why-voting-for-obama.html.
95.Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, 377–78; Obama, A Promised Land, 181–82.
96.Obama, A Promised Land, 173–75.
97.Obama, A Promised Land, 176–77; Ron Suskind, Confidence: Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President (New York: HarperCollins, 2011), 104–5 and 109; Ceaser, Busch, and Pitney Jr., Epic Journey, 146; Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, 379.
98.Obama, A Promised Land, 180–81; Suskind, Confidence, 104–5 and 109; Ceaser, Busch, and Pitney Jr., Epic Journey, 146; Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, 379.
99.David Brooks, “Ceding the Center,” New York Times, October 26, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/opinion/26brooks.html; Draper, “The Making (and Remaking) of McCain”; Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, 382–84; Ceaser, Busch, and Pitney Jr., Epic Journey, 146; Obama, A Promised Land, 184–85.
100.Obama’s quote is from Heilemann and Halperin, Game Change, 388.
101.Obama, A Promised Land, 181–90; Ceaser, Busch, and Pitney Jr., Epic Journey, 147.
102.“US Election: Full Text of Barack Obama’s Speech on the Economy,” Guardian, October 13, 2008, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/oct/13/uselections2008-barackobama.
103.“General Election: McCain vs. Obama,” Real Clear Politics, November 2008, https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/us/general_election_mccain_vs_obama-225.html; “Washington Post-ABC News Poll,” Washington Post, October 13, 2008, https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/postpoll_101308.html; Frederick Weill, “The 2008 Election: Polling and Analysis,” n.d., n.p., http://www.fweil.com/Elections/2008/Election2008.html#Post.
104.“Election Results 2008,” New York Times, November 5, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/elections/2008/results/president/map.html.
105.Obama, A Promised Land, 196–202.
106.Adam Nagourney, “The ’08 Campaign: Sea Change for Politics as We Know It,” New York Times, November 3, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/us/politics/04memo.html.

5. Landmark Achievement

1.Adam Nagourney, “Obama Wins Election,” New York Times, November 4, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/05/us/politics/05campaign.html; Peter Walker, “The World Reacts to the New US President,” Guardian, November 5, 2008, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/nov/05/barackobama-uselections2008; Election Center, “Obama’s Win Sparks Celebrations outside the White House, CNN, November 5, 2008, http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/05/us.reaction/; “Transcript of Election Night Victory Speech, Grant Park, Illinois,” November 4, 2008, http://obamaspeeches.com/E11-Barack-Obama-Election-Night-Victory-Speech-Grant-Park-Illinois-November-4-2008.htm. See also Barack Obama, A Promised Land (New York: Crown, 2020), 202; David Remnick, The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama (New York: Vintage, 2010), 558–59; Evan Thomas, “A Long Time Coming”: The Inspiring, Combative 2008 Campaign and the Historic Election of Barack Obama (New York: Public Affairs, 2009), 183–84.
2.Barack Obama, “First President-Elect Weekly Transition Address,” American Rhetoric, November 8, 2008, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamaweeklytransition1.htm; Obama, A Promised Land, 206–8.
3.Obama, “First President-Elect Weekly Transition Address”; Barack Obama, “Second President-Elect Weekly Transition Address,” American Rhetoric, November 15, 2008, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamaweeklytransition2.htm.
4.Obama, “Second President-Elect Weekly Transition Address”; Stanley A. Renshoon, Barack Obama and the Politics of Redemption (New York: Routledge, 2012), 6–8.
5.The literature on the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009 is extensive, but see especially Andrew Ross Sorkin, Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System—and Themselves (New York: Viking, 2009); Ron Suskind, Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President (New York: HarperCollins, 2011); Henry M. Paulson Jr., On The Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System (New York: Business Plus, 2010); Timothy F. Geithner, Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises (New York: Broadway, 2014); Ben Bernanke, The Courage to Act: A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath (New York: W. W. Norton, 2015).
6.Suskind, Confidence Men, 133–57.
7.Ibid., 133–35; Obama, A Promised Land, 212–14.
8.Barack Obama, “Senate Floor Speech in Support of the Wall Street Bailout Bill,” American Rhetoric, October 1, 2008, https://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamasenatespeechonbailoutbill.htm.
9.Ibid.
10.“US Election: Full Text of Barack Obama’s Speech on the Economy,” Guardian, October 13, 2008, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/oct/13/uselections2008-barackobama.
11.Obama, A Promised Land, 211–14; Suskind, Confidence Men, 133–58.
12.Suskind, Confidence Men, 82; Geithner, Stress Test, 2–3 and 23–77; Michael Grunwald, The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2012), 76–83 and 98–103.
13.Andy Kroll, “Six Ways the Financial Bailout Scams Taxpayers,” Mother Jones, May 26, 2009, https://www.motherjones.com//politics//2009/05/six-ways-financial-bailout-scams-taxpayers.
14.James T. Kloppenberg, Reading Obama: Dreams, Hope, and the American Political Tradition (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2011), 225–28.
15.See chapter 2.
16.David Axelrod, Believer: My Forty Years in Politics (New York: Penguin, 2015), 324.
17.“Paul Krugman Interview on American Morning,” American Morning, December 3, 2008, http://www.pkarchive.org/economy/CNNAM120308.html; “Paul Krugman on Obama’s Economic Priorities,” MSNBC, November 7, 2008, https://www.thenation.com/article/paul-krugman-obamas-economic-priorities/; “Transcript: The Rachel Maddow Show,” NBC, November 19, 2008, web page no longer available. See also Paul Krugman, “The Obama Agenda,” New York Times, November 7, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/opinion/07krugman.html; Suskind, Confidence Men, 153–54; Peter Baker, Obama: The Call of History (New York: Callaway, 2017), 22.
18.Obama, A Promised Land, 237–39; Grunwald, The New New Deal, 58–61; Suskind, Confidence Men, 153–54; Baker, Obama: The Call of History, 22.
19.Obama, A Promised Land, 221.
20.Ibid., 221–23 and 238–39.
21.Carl Hulse, “Obama Is Sworn In as the 44th President,” New York Times, January 20, 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/21/us/politics/20web-inaug2.html; Suskind, Confidence Men, 155–56.
22.Barack Obama, “First Presidential Inaugural Address,” American Rhetoric, January 20, 2009, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamainauguraladdress.htm. See also Suskind, Confidence Men, 156–57.
23.“Obama’s Inaugural Address Draws Some Criticism,” Huffington Post, February 21, 2009, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/obamas-inaugural-address_n_159713; Robert Schlesinger, “Expert Reaction to the Obama Inaugural,” January 20, 2009, https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/robert-schlesinger/2009/01/20/expert-reaction-to-the-obama-inaugural; Jonathan Raban, “The Golden Trumpet,” Guardian, January 23, 2009, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jan/24/barack-obama-inauguration-speech-presidency-president-review-jonathan-raban; David E. Sanger, “Rejecting Bush Era, Reclaiming Values,” New York Times, January 20, 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/21/us/politics/21assess.html; Obama, A Promised Land, 230.
24.Editorial Board, “President Obama,” New York Times, January 20, 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/21/opinion/21wed1.html; “Mr. Obama’s Summons,” Washington Post, January 21, 2009, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/20/AR2009012003555.html; Susan Salter Reynolds, “Writers Praise Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address,” Los Angeles Times, January 21, 2009, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-jan-21-na-inaug-literati21-story.html; Roy Peter Clark, “Obama’s Inauguration Speech Relies on the Rhetoric of Responsibility,” Poynter, January 20, 2009, https://www.poynter.org/news/obamas-inauguration-speech-relies-rhetoric-responsibility.
25.Obama, A Promised Land, 208–9.
26.Ibid., 211, 224–23; Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “Richardson Won’t Pursue Cabinet Post,” New York Times, January 4, 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/us/politics/05richardson.html; Michael. D. Shear, “Richardson Withdraws Name as Commerce Secretary-Designee,” Washington Post, January 4, 2009, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/01/04//richardson_withdraws_as_commer.html; “Tom Daschle Becomes Latest of President Barack Obama’s Cabinet Picks Mired in Minor Scandal,” NY Daily News, January 31, 2009, http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/tom-daschle-latest-president-barack-obama-cabinet-picks-mired-minor-scandal-article-1.366499#; The Politico, “Daschle Withdraws Nomination,” CBS News, February 3, 2009, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/daschle-withdraws-nomination/; Jeff Zeleny and David Stout, “Daschle Withdraws as Cabinet Nominee,” New York Times, February 3, 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/04/world/americas/04iht-04obama.19911311.html.
27.“Quotes from Barack Obama in His First 100 Days as President,” South Florida South Sentinel, April 25, 2009, https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/sfl-obama-100-042609quotes-story.html.
28.Eric Rauchway, “Neither a Depression nor a New Deal: Bailout, Stimulus, and the Economy,” in The Presidency of Barack Obama: A First Historical Assessment, ed. Julian E. Zelizer (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018), 42–43; Grunwald, The New New Deal, 26–80; Michael D’Antonio, A Consequential President: The Legacy of Barack Obama (New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2016), 18–19 and 29–31.
29.“Obama and Conservatives Break Bread at George Will’s House,” Huffington Post, January 13, 2009, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/obamas-dinner-with-conser_n_157701; Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “Obama Signs Equal-Pay Legislation,” New York Times, January 29, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/us/politics/30ledbetter-web.html; Heidi Brown, “Equal Payback for Lilly Ledbetter,” Forbes, April 28, 2009, https://www.forbes.com//2009/04/28/equal-pay-discrimination-forbes-woman-leadership-wages.html; Lilly Ledbetter and Linda Hallman, “For Women, What a Difference a Year Almost Made,” Huffington Post, March 31, 2010, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/for-women-what-a-differen_b_436113; Obama, A Promised Land, 234.
30.Barack Obama, “First Presidential Weekly Address,” American Rhetoric, January 24, 2009, https://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/weeklyaddresses/barackobamaweekly1.htm; Barack Obama, “First Presidential Prime Time Press Conference,” American Rhetoric, February 9, 2009, https://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamafirstprimetimepressconference.htm.
31.Obama, “First Presidential Prime Time Press Conference,” February 9, 2009.
32.Dan Froomkin, “White House Watch: A Missed Opportunity,” Washington Post, February 10, 2009, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/white-house-watch/financial-crisis/a-missed-opportunity.html; and Anne E. Kornblut and Michael A. Fletcher, “Obama Says Economic Crisis Comes First,” Washington Post, February 10, 2009, https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/09/AR2009020903430.html.
33.Froomkin, “White House Watch: A Missed Opportunity”; Martha Joynt Kumar, “Obama Meets the Press—on His Terms,” Real Clear Politics, August 29, 2015, https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/08/29/obama_meets_the_press_--_on_his_terms_127907.html.
34.Peter Baker, “Obama Sternly Takes On His Critics,” New York Times, February 9, 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/us/politics/10assess.html.
35.Grunwald, The New New Deal, 298–308.
36.Steven Rattner, Overhaul: An Insider’s Account of the Obama Administration’s Emergency Rescue of the Auto Industry (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2010), 12–47; Steven Rattner, “The Auto Bailout: How We Did It,” CNNMoney, October 21, 2009, https://money.cnn.com/2009//10/21/autos/auto_bailout_rattner.fortune/; Obama, A Promised Land, 297–98; Susskind, Confidence Men, 221–27; D’Antonio, A Consequential President, 58–59.
37.Obama, A Promised Land, 297–301; Eugene Robinson, “Eugene Robinson: GOP Senators Were Foolish to Oppose the Detroit Bailout,” East Bay Times, December 16, 2008, https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2008/12/16/eugene-robinson-gop-senators-were-foolish-to-oppose-the-detroit-bailout/.
38.Charles Krauthammer, “A Lemon of a Bailout,” Washington Post, November 14, 2008, http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/13/AR2008111303348.html.
39.Jim Rutenberg, Peter Baker, and Bill Vlasic, “Early Resolve: Obama Stand in Auto Crisis,” New York Times, April 29, 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/us/politics/29decide.html; Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Bill Vlasic, “President Gives a Short Lifeline to Carmakers,” New York Times, March 30, 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/31/business/31auto.html; “Special Report with Brit Hume,” Fox News, December 19, 2008, https://www.foxnews.com/story/special-report-panel-on-president-bushs-auto-bailout-illinois-defiant-governor; D’Antonio, A Consequential President, 62–63.
40.“Business Issues in the News,” PollingReport.com., n.d., http://www.pollingreport.com/business2.htm; “The Unpopular, Successful Auto Bailout,” Prospect, May 24, 2011, https://prospect.org/article/unpopular-successful-auto-bailout/.
41.Obama, A Promised Land, 300–301.
42.Kimberly Amadeo, “Auto Industry Bailout: Was the Big Three Bailout Worth It?” The Balance, October 9, 2018, https://www.thebalance.com/auto-industry-bailout-gm-ford-chrysler-3305670; Peter Weber, “The U.S. Auto Bailout Is Officially Over: Here’s What America Lost and Gained,” The Week, December 10, 2013, https://theweek.com/articles/454749/auto-bailout-officially-over-heres-what-america-lost-gained.
43.Obama, A Promised Land, 301–6 and 387–91; John Nichols, “The Nation: Obama Pick, Sonia Sotomayor, Reflects America,” NPR, May 26, 2009, https://www.npr.org/templates//story/story.php?storyid=104534590; Peter Baker and Jeff Zeleny, “Obama Hails Judge as ‘Inspiring,’ ” New York Times, May 26, 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27//us/politics/27court.html; Text: Obama’s Remarks on His Choice of Sotomayor,” New York Times, May 26, 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/26/us/politics/26obama.sotomayor.text.html. On the ARRA, see especially Grunwald, The New New Deal.
44.These books provide the best introduction to the ACA: The Staff of the Washington Post, Landmark: The Inside Story of America’s New Health-Care Law—the Affordable Care Act—and What It Means for Us All (New York: Public Affairs, 2010); and John E. McDonough, Inside National Health Reform (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011). See also Ezekiel J. Emanuel, Reinventing American Health Care: How the Affordable Care Act Will Improve Our Terribly Complex, Blatantly Unjust, Outrageously Expensive, Grossly Inefficient, Error Prone System (New York: Public Affairs, 2014); Elizabeth Rosenthal, An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back (New York: Penguin, 2017). For a critical view of the ACA, see David Goldhill, Catastrophic Care: How American Health Care Killed My Father—and How We Can Fix It (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013).
45.Emanuel, Reinventing American Health Care; Rosenthal, An American Sickness; D’Antonio, A Consequential President, 82–87; Maurie Backman, “This Is the No.1 Reason Americans File for Bankruptcy,” The Motley Fool, May 1, 2017, https://www.fool.com/retirement//2017/05/01/this-is-the-no-1-reason-americans-file-for-bankrup.aspx.
46.The White House: President Barack Obama, “Improving Health for All Americans,” n.d. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-record/health-care; Scott Conroy, “Obama Unveils Universal Health Care Plan,” CBS News, May 29, 2007, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-unveils-universal-health-care-plan/.
47.“Obama ’08: Barack Obama’s Plan for a Healthy America”; “Remarks of Senator Barack Obama,” New York Times, May 29, 2007, https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/29/us/politics/28text-obama.html.
48.Obama, A Promised Land, 382–83; “Obama ’08: Barack Obama’s Plan for a Healthy America”; “Remarks of Senator Barack Obama.”
49.“Remarks of Senator Barack Obama.”
50.“Transcript: The Democratic Debate in Cleveland,” New York Times, February 26, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com//2008//02/26/us/politics/26text-debate.html; Kimberly Amadeo, “Hillarycare, the Health Security Act of 1993: Hillarycare, What It Was and Why It Failed,” The Balance, December 11, 2018, web page no longer available. Before dropping out of the race in January, John Edwards also favored an individual mandate. See Michael Cooper, “It Was Clinton vs. Obama on Health Care,” New York Times, November 16, 2007, https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/16/us/politics/16facts.html; McDonough, Inside National Health Reform, 107–16.
51.Obama, A Promised Land, 378–79.
52.The Staff of the Washington Post, Landmark, 12; Grunwald, The New New Deal, 45; Paul Starr, “Achievement without Credit: The Obama Presidency and Inequality,” in The Presidency of Barack Obama: A First Historical Assessment, ed. Julian E. Zelizer (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018), 53–54.
53.Obama, A Promised Land, 377–78; Richard Wolffe, Revival: The Struggle for Survival inside the Obama White House (New York: Broadway Paperbacks, 2011), 54–56 and 96–105.
54.Obama, A Promised Land, 380–81.
55.Jonathan Oberlander, “Long Time Coming: Why Health Reform Finally Passed,” Health Affairs 29, June 2010, https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2010.0447; Starr, “Achievement without Credit,” 54.
56.Barack Obama, “First Speech to a Joint Session of Congress,” American Rhetoric, February 24, 2009, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamajointsession2009.htm; David Martin, “Obama Calls for Health-Care Reform in 2009,” CNN, February 25, 2009, https://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/24/obama.health.care/index.html; Wolffe, Revival, 90.
57.“Obama’s Remarks at the White House Health Care Forum,” New York Times, March 5, 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/05/us/politics/05obama-text.html.
58.Ibid.
59.Oberlander, “Long Time Coming”; Eggert and Connolly, “Health Industry Voices Support for Health Plan.”
60.This coordinated approach contrasted sharply with the divisions in the House that had helped doom Clinton’s efforts at health reform. Oberlander, “Long Time Coming.”
61.Obama, A Promised Land, 392–94; “Why ‘HillaryCare’ Failed and ‘ObamaCare’ Succeeded,” American Health Line, n.d., https://ahlalerts.wordpress.com/2012/07/03/why-hillarycare-failed-and-obamacare-succeeded-2/; Brian Montopoli, “Washington Unplugged: Coburn, Romer on Health Care Battle,” CBSNews, March 6, 2009, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/washington-unplugged-coburn-romer-on-health-care-battle/; Oberlander, “Long Time Coming.”
62.Oberlander, “Long Time Coming.”
63.Obama, A Promised Land, 401–2; Ceci Connolly, “Coming This Spring: Health Care Forums in the States,” Washington Post, March 6, 2009, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/03/06/coming_this_spring_health_care.html.
64.“Transcript of Obama’s Health Care Speech to Congress,” New York Times, September 9, 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/us/politics/10obama.text.html.
65.“Rep. Wilson Shouts, ‘You Lie’ to Obama during Speech,” CNN, September 9, 2009, https://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/09/joe.wilson/.
66.On the complex history of the health care legislation in the Senate Finance Committee, which had been working on a health-care measure since 2008, see Wolffe, Revival, 66–68. See also Axelrod, Believer, 376–78; Obama, A Promised Land, 392.
67.Obama, A Promised Land, 392.
68.Helen A. Halpin and Peter Harbage, “The Origins and Demise of the Public Option,” Health Affairs 29, June 2010, https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2010.0363; Max Fisher, “Why Obama Dropped the Public Option,” Atlantic, February 4, 2010, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/02/why-obama-dropped-the-public-option/346546/; Jonathan Chait, “Does Obama Prefer the Public Option?” New Republic, February 23, 2010, https://newrepublic.com/article/73303/does-obama-prefer-the-public-option; Steve Benen, “Choice and the Public Option,” Washington Monthly, August 20, 2009, https://washingtonmonthly.com/2009/08/20/choice-and-a-public-option/; Wolffe, Revival, 109–10.
69.Obama, A Promised Land, 412; Wolffe, Revival, 109–10; Axelrod, Believer, 381–82.
70.Obama, A Promised Land, 416–18; Wolffe, Revival, 52–53, 56, and 73–74; Axelrod, Believer, 383–87.
71.Obama, A Promised Land, 418; Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Robert Pear, “President Urges Focus on Common Ground,” New York Times, February 25, 2010, https://www.nytimes.com/2010//02/26/health/policy/26health.html; Axelrod, Believer, 387–88.
72.“Highlights from Obama’s Health Care Summit,” CNN, February 25, 2010, http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/25/health.care.summit.updates/index.html; Obama, A Promised Land, 420–22; Stolberg and Pear, “President Urges Focus on Common Ground”; Wolffe, Revival, 121–28.
73.McDonough, Inside National Health Reform; Obama, A Promised Land, 421–26.
74.Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Robert Pear, “Obama Signs Health Care Overhaul Bill, with a Flourish,” New York Times, March 23, 2010, https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/health/policy/24health.html.
75.McDonough, Inside National Health Reform.
76.Ibid., xiii–xiv, 5, 21–23, and 103–39.

6. Quest for a Common Purpose

1.David M. Herszenhorn and Robert Pear, “Health Vote Is Done, but Partisan Debate Rages On,” New York Times, March 22, 2010, https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/23/health/policy/23health.html; David M. Herszenhorn and Robert Pear, “Final Votes in Congress Cap Battle on Health Bill,” New York Times, March 25, 2010, https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/26/health/policy/26health.html; “Public Approval of Health Care Law,” Real Clear Politics, n.d., https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/obama_and_democrats_health_care_plan-1130.html.
2.Herszenhorn and Pear, “Health Vote Is Done, but Partisan Debate Rages On”; Herszenhorn and Pear, “Final Votes in Congress Cap Battle on Health Bill.”
3.Barack Obama, A Promised Land (New York: Crown, 2020), 261, 271–74, 276–77, and 403–7; Robert Draper, When the Tea Party Came to Town (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2012), xi–xviii and 20; Russell Berman, “Gallup: Tea Party’s Top Concerns Are Debt, Size of Government,” The Hill, July 5, 2010, https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/107193-gallup-tea-partys-top-concerns-are-debt-size-of-government; “Comments on the Tea Party Movement,” April 20, 2010, web page no longer available; Jonathan Alter, The Promise: President Obama, Year One (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2010), 263–64; Draper, When the Tea Party Came to Town, 20.
4.David Barstow, “Tea Party Lights Fuse for Rebellion on Right,” New York Times, April 16, 2010, https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/us/politics/16teaparty.html; Will Bunch, “Karl Rove and the Tea Party: What Really Happened,” Huffington Post, September 20, 2010, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/karl-rove-and-the-tea-par_b_732487; “Comments on the Tea Party”; Alter, The Promise, 274–75; Obama, A Promised Land, 405.
5.Alter, The Promise, 274; H. A. Goodman, “Tea Party Hatred of Obama Has Always Been about Race—‘War on Whites’ Philosophy Confirms This,” Huffington Post, August 5, 2014, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tea-party-hatred-of-obama_b_5650966; Barstow, “Tea Party Lights Fuse for Rebellion on Right”; Gary Gerstle, “Civic Ideals, Race, and the Nation in the Age of Obama,” in The Presidency of Barack Obama: A First Historical Assessment, ed. Julian E. Zelizer (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018), 272–75.
6.Barstow, “Tea Party Lights Fuse for Rebellion on Right”; Alter, The Promise, 276.
7.Obama, A Promised Land, 405–7; Barack Obama, interview by Matt Lauer, “Today Show,” NBC, March 30, 2010, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/interview-with-matt-lauer-nbcs-today-0.
8.“Obama Makes Light of Anti-Tax Protestors,” Associated Press, April 15, 2010, https://www.cleveland.com/nation/2010/04/obama_makes_light_of_anti-tax.html; Patrik Jonsson, “Obama’s ‘Tea Party’ Complex,” Christian Science Monitor, April 17, 2010, https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2010/0417/Obama-s-tea-party-complex; Stephanie Condon, “Conservatives Upset with Obama’s Reference to ‘Tea Baggers,’ ” “CBS Interactive,” CBS News, May 4, 2010, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/conservatives-upset-with-obamas-reference-to-tea-baggers/; Jared Keller, “Obama Calls Tea Partiers ‘Tea-Baggers,’ ” Atlantic, May 4, 2010, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/05/obama-calls-tea-partiers-tea-baggers/340942/; Alter, The Promise, 279.
9.Kenneth T. Walsh, “Obama Says Race a Key Component in Tea Party Protests,” U.S. News and World Report, March 2, 2011, www.usnews.com.
10.John Hinderaker, “Tea Party vs. Obama,” PowerLine (blog), April 5, 2010, https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/04/025998.php; Walsh, “Obama Says Race a Key Component in Tea Party Protests.”
11.Walsh, “Obama Says Race a Key Component in Tea Party Protests.”
12.Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “Disappointed Supporters Question Obama,” New York Times, September 20, 2010, https://www.nytimes.com/2010//09/21/us/politics/21obama.html.
13.Figures are from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_02052010.pdf.
14.“Transcript: President Obama Delivers Remarks at Georgetown University,” Washington Post, April 14, 2009, https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/documents/Obama_Economy_Georgetown.html.
15.“Obama Hitler Billboard Removed,” CBS News, July 14, 2010, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/billboard-linking-obama-to-hitler-lenin-removed/; Richard Wolffe, Revival: The Struggle for Survival inside the Obama White House (New York: Broadway Paperbacks, 2011), 193–97.
16.Quoted in Stolberg, “Disappointed Supporters Question Obama.”
17.Quoted in Jason Easley, “Obama Sets a Tea Party Trap,” PoliticusUSA, September 20, 2010, https://www.politicususa.com/2010/09//20/obama-tea-party.html.
18.Wolffe, Revival, 193.
19.Jeremi Suri, “Liberal Internationalism, Law, and the First African American President,” in The Presidency of Barack Obama: A First Historical Assessment, ed. Julian E. Zelizer (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018), 195.
20.Barack Obama, “First Presidential Inaugural Address,” American Rhetoric, January 20, 2009, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamainauguraladdress.htm.
21.Amy Belasco, “Troop Levels in the Afghan and Iraq Wars, FY2001–FY2012: Costs and Other Potential Issues,” Congressional Research Service, July 2, 2009, https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R40682.pdf; Bob Woodward, Obama’s Wars (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2010), 3; Barack Obama, “Address to the People of Berlin,” American Rhetoric, July 24, 2008, https://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobamaberlinspeech.htm; Obama, A Promised Land, 315–19.
22.“Obama, “First Presidential Inaugural Address”; Barack Obama, “Al Arabiya Television Interview with Hisham Melhem,” American Rhetoric, January 26, 2009, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamaal-arabiya.htm; George Packer, “The Last Mission: Richard Holbrooke’s Plan to Avoid the Mistakes of Vietnam in Afghanistan,” New Yorker, September 28, 2009, http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/09/28/the-last-mission; Robert M. Gates, Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2014), 337; Alter, The Promise, 373–74.
23.Woodward, Obama’s Wars, 76–98 and 107–10.
24.Ben Rhodes, The World as It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House (New York: Random House, 2018), 65–66; Woodward, Obama’s Wars, 3; Packer, “The Last Mission”; Alter, The Promise, 132–33, 366–67, and 375; Gates, Duty, 336–39; Obama, A Promised Land, 318.
25.As quoted in Packer, “The Last Mission”; Gates, Duty, 340 and 342–43. On the use of drones, see also Daniel Klaidman, Kill or Capture: The War on Terror and the Soul of the Obama Presidency (Boston: Mariner Books, 2013), 18–19, 215–20, and 261–65.
26.Barack Obama, “Post G20 Economic Summit Remarks and Press Conference,” American Rhetoric, April 2, 2009, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamag20summitpressconference.htm; Barack Obama, “Address in Strasbourg Town Hall,” American Rhetoric, April 3, 2009, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamastrasbourgspeech.htm; Obama, A Promised Land, 346.
27.Barack Obama, “Speech at Hradcany Square in Prague,” American Rhetoric, April 5, 2009, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamapraguespeech.htm; Obama, A Promised Land, 346–47; Alter, The Promise, 352–55.
28.Barack Obama, “Speech to the Turkish Parliament,” American Rhetoric, April 6, 2009, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamaturkishparliament.htm.
29.“London Summit—Leaders’ Statement,” April 2, 2009, https://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2009/pdf/g20_040209.pdf; “The Art of Persuasion at the G-20 Summit,” New York Times, April 1, 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/03/world/europe/03summit.html; Mark Landler and David E. Sanger, “World Leaders Pledge $1.1 Trillion for Crisis,” New York Times, April 2, 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/03/world/europe/03summit.html; Nicholas Watt, “G20: Sarkozy’s Empty-Chair Threat Shows EU Fails to Realise Times Have Changed,” Guardian, April 1, 2009, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/2009/apr/01/sarkozy-obama-eu; Obama, “Post G20 Economic Summit Remarks and Press Conference”; John Vinocur, “Analyzing Obama’s European Tour,” New York Times, April 13, 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/14/world/europe/14iht-politicus.html. See also Rhodes, The World as It Is,” 40–44; Obama, A Promised Land, 345–46.
30.Dan Froomkin, “Obama to Europe: No More Excuses,” Washington Post, April 3, 2009, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/white-house-watch/afghanistan/007obama-to-europe-no-more-excuse.html; Alter, The Promise, 132–33.
31.NATO, “Strasbourg/Kehl Summit Declaration,” April 4, 2009, https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/news_52837.htm; NATO, “Summit Declaration on Afghanistan,” April 4, 2009, https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/news_52836.htm; “Obama on Afghan Initiative,” Washington Post, April 3, 2009, https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/02/AR2009040203727.html.
32.Packer, “The Last Mission”; Obama, A Promised Land, 314–15.
33.Quoted in Alter, The Promise, 364. See also Gates, Duty, 343–44; Obama, A Promised Land, 320–21.
34.Obama, A Promised Land, 357–63; Rhodes, The World as It Is, 51–53; Jeff Zeleny and Helene Cooper, “Rival Messages as Obama Lands in the Middle East,” New York Times, June 3, 2009. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/world/middleeast/04prexy.html.
35.Obama, “First Presidential Inaugural Address”; Obama, “Al Arabiya Television Interview with Hisham Melhem”; David E. Sanger, “Rejecting Bush Era, Reclaiming Values,” New York Times, January 20, 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/21/us/politics/21assess.html; Rhodes, The World as It Is, 53–59; Robert Draper, “Barack Obama’s Work in Progress,” New York Times, June 3, 2009, web page no longer available.
36.Barack Obama, “A New Beginning: Speech at Cairo University,” American Rhetoric, June 4, 2009, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamacairouniversity.htm; Nazila Fathi, “Iran to Sign Inspection Pact On Atomic Sites,” New York Times, December 18, 2003, https://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/18/world/iran-to-sign-inspection-pact-on-atomic-sites.html; “Iran Signs Nuclear Inspection Treaty,” Guardian, December 18, 2003, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/dec/18/iran.
37.Obama, “A New Beginning: Speech at Cairo University”; Hauser and Fathi, “Iran Signs Pact Allowing Inspection of Its Nuclear Sites.”
38.Obama, “A New Beginning: Speech at Cairo University.”
39.Editors, “What Obama Said, What the Mideast Heard,” New York Times, June 4, 2009, https://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/what-obama-said-what-the-mideast-heard/; Obama, A Promised Land, 366–67.
40.Obama, “A New Beginning: Speech at Cairo University.”
41.Woodward, Obama’s Wars, 159; Obama, A Promised Land, 432–33; Alter, The Promise, 363.
42.Woodward, Obama’s Wars, 202–380, but see especially, 324–33; Obama, A Promised Land, 433; Alter, The Promise, 369–94.
43.“The Nobel Peace Prize for 2009,” Norwegian Nobel Committee, October 9, 2009, https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2009/press-release/; Steven Erlanger and Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “Surprise Nobel for Obama Stirs Praise and Doubts,” New York Times, October 9, 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/10/world/10nobel.html.
44.Obama, A Promised Land, 439–40; Huma Khan, Yunji de Nies, and Karen Travers, “Obama on Nobel Prize Win: ‘This Is Not How I Expected to Wake Up This Morning,’ ” ABC News, October 9, 2009, https://abcnews.go.com/Politicd/president-obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize/story?id=8788973.
45.Jeffrey A. Bader, Obama and China’s Rise: An Insider’s Account of America’s Asia Strategy (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2012), 48–69.
46.“Remarks by President Barack Obama at Suntory Hall,” Office of the Press Secretary, The White House, November 14, 2009, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-barack-obama-suntory-hall; Obama, A Promised Land, 477–78; Sheila Smith, Joshua Kurlantzick, Elizabeth Economy, and Scott Snyder, “President Obama Tours Asia,” Council on Foreign Relations, November 3, 2009, https://www.cfr.org/expert-roundup/president-obama-tours-asia.
47.Bader, Obama and China’s Rise, 1–17 and 94–96; Obama, A Promised Land, 479.
48.Quoted in Meg Jacobs, “Obama’s Fight against Global Warming,” in The Presidency of Barack Obama: A First Historical Assessment, ed. Julian E. Zelizer (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018), 62–67.
49.Tom Cohen, “Obama to Seek Stronger Ties on Asian Trip,” CNN, November 10, 2009, https://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/11/10/obama.asia.trip/index.html.
50.Michael Auslin, Michael Green, Victor Cha, et al., “Foreign Policy Specialists Assess Obama’s Trip to Asia,” Washington Post, November 22, 2009, https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/20/AR2009112003594.html.
51.Bader, Obama and China’s Rise, 48–52.
52.Ibid., 48 and 54–56; Helene Cooper, “China Holds Firm on Major Issues in Obama’s Visit,” New York Times, November 17, 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/world/asia/18prexy/html; Helene Cooper, Michael Wines, and David E. Sanger, “China’s Role as Lender Alters Obama’s Visit,” New York Times, November 14, 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/world/asia/15china.html.
53.Bader, Obama and China’s Rise, 57–60.
54.Cooper, “China Holds Firm on Major Issues.”
55.Rhodes, The World as It Is, 72–81; “Hu Jintao and Barack Obama, Remarks on Their Meetings and Joint Statement,” USC US-China Institute, November 17, 2009, https://china.usc.edu/hu-jintao-and-barack-obama-remarks-their-meetings-and-joint-statement-nov-17-2009; “U.S.-China Joint Statement,” Office of the Press Secretary, The White House, November 18, 2009, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2011/01/19/us-china-joint-statement. See also Obama, A Promised Land, 479–48.
56.“Full Transcript: President Obama’s Speech on Afghanistan,” ABC News, December 1, 2009, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/full-transcript-president-obamas-speech-afghanistan-delivered-west/story?id=9220661.
57.Ibid.
58.Ibid.
59.Ibid.
60.Ibid.
61.Obama, A Promised Land, 444–45.
62.Jeff Zeleny, “Analyzing Obama’s Afghan Speech,” New York Times, December 1, 2009, https://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/live-blogging-obamas-afghan-speech/; Gregg Miller, Julian E. Barnes, and Christi Parsons, “ ‘Our Security Is at Stake,’ Obama Says in Ordering Surge to Afghanistan,” Chicago Tribune, December 12, 2009, https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2009-12-02-chi-obama-afghan-1202dec02-story.html; “Sarah Palin’s Response to Obama’s Speech at West Point,” Sarah Palin’s Facebook page, December 2, 2009.
63.“Full Transcript: President Obama’s Speech on Afghanistan.”
64.Rhodes, The World as It Is, 80–82; Obama, A Promised Land, 445–46.
65.David Brooks, “Obama, Gospel and Verse,” New York Times, April 26, 2007, https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/opinion/26brooks.html. See also Krista Tippett, David Brooks, and E. J. Dionne, “Obama’s Theologian: Reinhold Niebuhr and the American President,” On Being, August 13, 2009, https://onbeing.org/programs/david-brooks-and-e-j-dionne-obamas-theologian-reinhold; Fred Kaplan, “Obama’s War and Peace: How the President Accepted the Nobel While Sending More Troops to Fight in Afghanistan,” Slate, December 10, 2009, https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2009/12/how-obama-accepted-the-nobel-peace-prize-while-escalating-the-war-in-afghanistan.html.
66.Barack Obama, “Nobel Peace Prize for Peace Lecture,” American Rhetoric, December 10, 2009, www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamanobelprizespeech.htm.
67.Ibid.
68.Ibid.
69.Ibid.
70.Ibid.
71.Ibid.
72.Ibid.
73.Ibid.
74.Chris Herlinger and Ecumenical News International, “Obama’s Peace Prize Speech Prompts Debate on Ethics of War,” Anglican Journal, December 11, 2009, https://www.anglicanjournal.com/obamas-peace-prize-speech-prompts-debate-on-ethics-of-war-8852/amp/; Kaplan, “Obama’s War and Peace: How the President Accepted the Nobel While Sending More Troops to Fight in Afghanistan”; “Reaction to Obama’s Nobel Speech,” “All Things Considered,” NPR, December 10, 2009, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121304855. See also John Blake, “How Obama’s Favorite Theologian Shaped His First Year in Office,” CNN, February 5, 2010, http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/05/Obama.theologian/index.html. For an exception to the influence of Niebuhr on Obama, see “Niebuhr and Obama,” Policy Review, April and May 2009, https://www.hoover.org/research/niebuhr-and-obama.
75.Obama, A Promised Land, 590–92.
76.Peter Roff, “Measuring the Size of Election 2010 Republican Sweep,” U.S. News and World Report, November 20, 2010, https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/peter-roff/2010/11/05/measuring-the-size-of-election-2010s-republican-sweep.
77.“US Midterm Election Results Herald Political Era as Republicans Take House,” Guardian, November 5, 2010, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/nov/03/us-midterm-election-results-tea-party.
78.Quoted in Roff, “Measuring the Size of Election 2010 Republican Sweep.”
79.Barack Obama, “Press Conference Following 2010 Congressional Election,” American Rhetoric, November 3, 2010, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamamidtermpresser.htm.
80.Ibid.
81.Ibid.
82.Ibid.
83.Ibid.
84.Paul Starr, “Achievement without Credit: The Obama Presidency and Inequality,” in The Presidency of Barack Obama: A First Historical Assessment, ed. Julian E. Zelizer (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018), 59–61; Alter, The Promise, 267–90; William A. Galston, “President Barack Obama’s First Two Years: Policy Accomplishments, Political Difficulties,” Brookings, November 4, 2010, https://www.brookings.edu/research/president-barack-obamas-first.
85.Obama, A Promised Land, 576–77; Paul Kane and Ben Pershing, “Pelosi Rejects Tax Proposal to Pay for Afghan War,” Washington Post, December 3, 2009, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2009/12/pelosi_rejects_tax_proposal_to.html; Woodward, Obama’s Wars, 307.
86.Barack Obama, “Address to the Troops in Afghanistan,” American Rhetoric, March 28, 2010, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamatroopsafghanistan.htm; Michael Hastings, “The Runaway General: The Profile That Brought Down McChrystal, Rolling Stone, June 22, 2010, https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/the-runaway-general-the-profile-that-brought-down-mcchrystal-192609/; “US Afghan Commander Stanley McChrystal Fired by Obama,” BBC, June 24, 2010, https://www.bbc.com/news/10395402; Helene Cooper and David E. Sanger, “Obama Says Afghan Policy Won’t Change after Dismissal,” New York Times, June 23, 2010, https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/24/us/politics/24mcchrystal.html. On the firing of McChrystal, see also Obama, A Promised Land, 578–80; Woodward, Obama’s Wars, 371–73; Gates, Duty, 487–92; Rhodes, The World as It Is, 83–85.

7. The Comeback President

1.McConnell later claimed that his remarks were taken out of context. Mitch McConnell, The Long Game: A Memoir (New York: Sentinel, 2016), 202–3.
2.Robert Draper, When the Tea Party Came to Town (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2012), 224–27; Barack Obama, A Promised Land (New York: Crown, 2020), 670.
3.Kimberly Amadeo, “Obama Tax Cuts Facts and Consequences: Why Did Obama Extend the Bush Tax Cuts?” The Balance, February 13, 2019, https://www.thebalance.com/obama-tax-cuts-3306330; David M. Herszenhorn and Jackie Calmes, “Tax Deal Suggests New Path for Obama,” CNBC, December 7, 2010, https://www.cnbc.com/id/40545954; Montgomery, Murray, and Branigan, “Obama Signs Bill to Extend Bush-Era Tax Cuts for Two More Years.”
4.Dan Baltz, “For President Obama, Signing Tax-Cut Bill Makes for a Good Day,” Washington Post, December 18, 2010, web page no longer available.
5.Quoted in Baltz, “For President Obama, Signing Tax-Cut Bill Makes for a Good Day”; Timothy Stewart-Winter, “The Gay Rights President,” in The Presidency of Barack Obama: A First Historical Assessment, ed. Julian E. Zelizer (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018), 97–99; Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 591, 603 and 609–10; David Corn, Showdown: The Inside Story of How Obama Fought Back against Boehner, Cantor, and the Tea Party (New York: HarperCollins, 2012) 79–82.
6.Stewart-Winter, “The Gay Rights President,” 97–99.
7.Stewart-Winter, “The Gay Rights President,” 103–6; Corn, Showdown, 82–85. On the selection of Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at Obama’s inaugural, see, for example, Sally Quinn, “Was Obama’s Selection an Inspired Choice or a Blunder?” Washington Post, January 9, 2009, http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/19/AR2009011902374.html; Tobin Harshaw, “Invoking Rick Warren,” New York Times, January 20, 2009, https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/invoking-rick-warren/.
8.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 608–11.
9.Christine Simmons, “Gays Question Obama ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Pledge,” Seattle Times, October 11, 2009, https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/gays-question-obama-dont-ask-dont-tell-pledge/; Josh Gerstein, “President Obama Offers Little New in Speech to Gay Rights Activists at HRC Dinner,” Politico, October 10, 2009, http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28156.html.
10.Barack Obama, “First Presidential State of the Union Address,” American Rhetoric, January 27, 2010, https://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/stateoftheunion2010.htm; “Obama Calls for ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Repeal,” CNN, January 27, 2010, http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/01/27/obama.gays.military/index.html; Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 611–14; Corn, Showdown, 82–84.
11.Robert Gates, Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2014), 433–36; Corn, Showdown, 85–92; Stewart-Winter, “The Gay Rights President,” 105–6.
12.John Schwartz, “Judge Orders U.S. Military to Stop ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ ” New York Times, October 12, 2010, https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/13/us/13military.html; Charlies Savage, “Obama Seeks Stay on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Ruling,” New York Times, October 14, 2010, https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/15/us/politics/15military.html; “ ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Policy Ruled Unconstitutional,” CNN, September 10, 2010, www.cnn.com/2010/US/09/09/dont.ask.dont.tell/index.html; Ben Smith, “Federal Judge Overturns ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ ” Politico, September 9, 2009, https://www.politico.com/blogs/ben-smith/2010/09/federal-judge-overturns-dont-ask-dont-tell-029123.
13.The quote is from Corn, Showdown, 92–93. See also Stewart-Winter, “The Gay Rights President,”105–6.
14.Carl Hulse, “Senate Repeals Ban against Openly Gay Military Personnel,” New York Times, December 18, 2010, https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/19/us/politics/19cong.html; “Military Lays Out Plan to Implement Gay Ban Repeal,” USA Today, January 29, 2011, https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/military/2011-01-29-repeal-implementation_N.htm.
15.Peter Baker and Dan Bilefsky, “Russia and U.S. Sign Nuclear Arms Reduction Pact,” New York Times, April 8, 2010, https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/09/world/europe/09prexy.html; Mark Tran, “Barack Obama Signs Nuclear Treaty with Russia,” Guardian, April 8, 2010, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/08/barack-obama-nuclear-treaty-russia; “Obama, Russian President Sign Arms Treaty,” CNN, April 8, 2010, www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/04/08/obama.russia.treaty/index.html.
16.“Remarks by President Obama and President Medvedev of Russia at New START Treaty Signing Ceremony and Press Conference,” Office of the Press Secretary, The White House, April 8, 2010, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-obama-and-president-medvedev-russia-new-start-treaty-signing-cere; Corn, Showdown, 104–5.
17.Julian Borger and Ewen MacAskill, “Barack Obama Pledges to Push Nuclear New Start Treaty through Congress,” Guardian, November 14, 2010, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/nov/14/barack-obama-nuclear-treaty-congress; Corn, Showdown, 102–4.
18.Barack Obama, “Remarks by the President at a Meeting on the New START Treaty,” Office of the Press Secretary, The White House, November 10, 2010, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-obama-and-president-medvedev-russia-new-start-treaty-signing-cere; Borger and MacAskill, “Barack Obama Pledges to Push Nuclear New Start Treaty through Congress.”
19.“US Senate Approves Nuclear Arms Control Treaty with Russia,” Guardian, December 22, 2010, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/dec/22/us-senate-new-start-approved; “Senate Approves Nuclear Arms Pact with Russia,” CBS/AP, December 22, 2010, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-approves-nuclear-arms-pact-with-russia; Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 608; Corn, Showdown, 106–14.
20.David Lightman and William Douglas, “Obama Wins 67–27 Senate Vote Ensures START Ratification,” McClatchy Newspapers, December 21, 2010, https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article24605254.html; “Senate Approves Nuclear Arms Pact with Russia”; Corn, Showdown, 114–20.
21.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 603, 609–10, and 618–19.
22.Mary Beth Sheridan and William Branigin, “Senate Ratifies New U.S.-Russia Nuclear Weapons Treaty,” Washington Post, December 22, 2010, www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/21/AR2010122104371.html; Corn, Showdown, 102–3.
23.Mark Memmott, “START Ratification Could Be ‘Defining Moment for Obama,’ ” NPR Newscast, December 21, 2010, https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2010/12/21/132228871/start-treaty-ratification-could-be-defining-moment-for-obama; Corey Dade, “Obama: Do You Like Me Yet,” NPR Newscast, December 21, 2010, https://www.npr.org/2010/12/22/132235761/obama-do-you-like-me-yet; Corn, Showdown, 104–5 and 121.
24.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 619.
25.Kimberly Amadeo, “US Budget Deficit by President,” The Balance, March 14, 2019, https://www.thebalance.com/deficit-by-president-what-budget-deficits-hide-3306151; Kimberly Amadeo, “U.S. Budget Deficit by Year, Compared to GDP, Debt Increase and Events,” The Balance, n.d., https://www.thebalance.com/us-deficit-by-year-3306306.
26.“The Moment of Truth,” The National Commission On Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, December 2010, https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/moment-truth-report-national-commission-fiscal-responsibility-and-reform-december-2010; Paul Krugman, “Unserious People,” New York Times, November 10, 2010, https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/10/unserious-people-2/; Ross Douthat, “Liberals and the Deficit Commission,” New York Times, November 11, 2010, https://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/11/liberals-and-the-deficit-commission/; Corn, Showdown, 131–32.
27.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 670.
28.Barack Obama, “Speech on Fiscal Policy at George Washington University,” American Rhetoric, April 13, 2011, https://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamafiscalpolicy2011.htm.
29.Ibid.
30.Ibid.
31.Ibid.
32.Ibid.; Corn, Showdown, 193–94.
33.Perry Bacon Jr., “Obama’s Budget Speech Carries Partisan Tone,” Washington Post, April 13, 2011, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obamas-budget-speech-has-partisan-tone/2011/04/13/AFod9iXD_story.html; Lori Montgomery, “Obama’s Address Was Surprise Attack, GOP Lawmakers Say,” Washington Post, April 15, 2011, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/obama’s-address-was-surprise-attack-GOP-lawmakers-say/2011/04/…; McConnell, The Long Game, 204–5; Draper, When the Tea Party Came to Town, 227–52.
34.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 671–75.
35.This version oversimplified what actually happened. If there was a moving of the goal posts, Boehner was as guilty as the White House. In the first round of negotiations, both sides talked about an exchange in which significant cuts would be made in such programs as community block grants, water treatment projects, and even low-income heating assistance in exchange for $800 billion in additional tax revenues. After a group of Republicans got wind of what was happening, they forced Boehner to insist on greater budget cuts, to which Obama would not agree. Aware that there were enough Democrats prepared to join Republicans to defeat the “grand bargain” unless he could wring more concessions out of Boehner, the president gave the speaker one of two options: agree to more tax revenues or scale back reductions in budget cuts. Feeling that he had been double-crossed by Obama and knowing that if he consented to either of his two proposals, he could lose his position as Speaker, Boehner refused to answer the president’s telephone calls and broke off negotiations with the White House. Corn, Showdown, 46–47, 180–81 and 303–31; McConnell, The Long Game, 203 and 205–7; Matt Bai, “Obama vs. Boehner: Who Killed the Debt Deal,” New York Times, March 28, 2012, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/magazine/obama-vs-boehner-who-killed-the-debt-deal.html; David Corn, “The Times Gets It Wrong on the Debt Deal: Sometimes Both Sides Aren’t Equally at Fault,” Mother Jones, April 3, 2012, https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/04/matt-bai-debt-deal-collapse-obama-boeher/.
36.Carl Hulse and Jackie Calmes, “Showdown Nears on Debt as Obama Warns of ‘Crisis,’ ” New York Times, July 25, 2011, https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/26/us/politics/26fiscal.html.
37.Barack Obama, “Address to the Nation on the Dangers of Default,” American Rhetoric, July 25, 2011, https://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamadeficitreductionplan.htm.
38.Ibid.; Hulse and Calmes, “Shutdown Nears on Debt as Obama Warns of ‘Crisis.’ ”
39.“Debt Ceiling: Timeline of Deal’s Development,” CNN, August 2, 2011, www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/07/25/debt.talks.timeline/index.html.
40.Jennifer Steinhauer, “Debt Bill Is Signed, Ending a Fractious Battle,” New York Times, August 2, 2011, https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/03/us/politics/03fiscal.html; Joshua Norman and Kevin Hechkopf, “President Obama: Deal Reached on Debt Crisis,” CBS News, August 1, 2011, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/president-obama-deal-reached-on-debt-crisis.
41.Steinhauer, “Debt Bill Is Signed Ending a Fractious Battle”; Norman and Hechkopf, “President Obama: Deal Reached on Debt Crisis”; Corn, Showdown, 179.
42.Alex Spillius, “US Debt Deal: A Victory for the Tea Party,” Telegraph, August 1, 2011, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/us-politics/8674224/US-debt-deal-a-victory-for-the-Tea-Party.html; Alex Spillius, “US Debt Crisis: US House Passes Debt Ceiling Bill,” Telegraph, August 2, 2011, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/us-politics/8675899/US-debt-crisis-US-House-passes-debt-ceiling-bill.html; Montgomery, “Debt Ceiling.”
43.The quotes are from Peter Baker, Obama: The Call of History (New York: Callaway, 2017), 96.
44.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 641–42.
45.Mark Landler and Helene Cooper, “Obama Seeks a Course of Pragmatism in the Middle East,” New York Times, March 10, 2011, https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/world/africa/11policy.html.
46.Ryan Lizza, “The Consequentialist: How the Arab Spring Remade Obama’s Foreign Policy,” New Yorker, April 25, 2011, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/05/02/the-consequentialist; David E. Sanger, Confront and Conceal: Obama’s Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power (New York: Broadway Paperbacks, 2013), 57–69.
47.Corn, Showdown, 151–53.
48.Landler and Cooper, “Obama Seeks a Course of Pragmatism in the Middle East”; Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 644–45.
49.John McDonnell, “Is Mubarak in a Coma,” Daily Mail, February 16, 2011, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1357170/Hosni-Mubarak-health-rumours-rife-Is-Egypts-ousted-president-coma.html; Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 646–50.
50.David K. Kirkpatrick, “Named Egypt’s Winner, Islamist Makes History,” New York Times, June 24, 2012, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/25/world/middleeast/mohamed-morsi-of-muslim-brotherhood-declared-as-egypts-president.html; “Coup Topples Egypt’s Morsi: Deposed President under ‘House Arrest,’ ” CNN, July 3, 2013, https://www.cnn.com/2013/07/03/world/meast/egypt-protests/index.html.
51.The quote is from Landler and Cooper, “Obama Seeks a Course of Pragmatism in the Middle East.”
52.US Energy Information Administration, “Today in Energy,” EIA, March 21, 2011, https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=590; Corey Flintoff, “Where Does America Get Oil? You May Be Surprised,” NPR, April 12, 2012, https://www.npr.org/2012/04/11/150444802/where-does-america-get-oil-you-may-be-surprised; Barack Obama, “Remarks on the Historic Revolution in Egypt,” American Rhetoric, February 11, 2011, https://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamaegyptrevolution.htm.
53.Barack Obama, “Statement on the 15th Anniversary of the Genocide in Rwanda,” in Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Barack Obama (Washington, DC: Office of the Federal Register, 2008), 464, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/statement-the-15th-anniversary-the-genocide-rwanda; Evan Buxbaum, “Tears Mark 15th Anniversary of Rwanda Genocide,” CNN, April 7, 2009, http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/04/07/rwanda.genocide/; Samantha Power, A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide (New York: Basic Books, 2002), esp. 329–89; Barack Obama, “Address on Libya,” American Rhetoric, March 18, 2011, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamalibyawarning.htm; Sanger, Confront and Conceal, 337–43; Corn, Showdown, 202 and 205–8; Lizza, “The Consequentialist.”
54.Eric Schmitt, “U.S. Gives Its Air Power Expansive Role in Libya,” New York Times, March 28, 2011, https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/29/us/29military.html; Jennifer Steinhauer, “House Spurns Obama on Libya, but Does Not Cut Funding,” New York Times, June 24, 2011, https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/25/us/politics/25powers.html; “Libya Profile—Timeline,” BBC News, July 13, 2017, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13755445.
55.Kareem Fahim, Anthony Shahid, and Rick Gladstone, “Violent End to an Era as Qaddafi Dies in Libya,” New York Times, October 20, 2011, https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/21/world/africa/qaddafi-is-killed-as-libyan-forces-take-surt.html.
56.Schmitt, “U.S. Gives Its Air Power Expansive Role in Libya”; Steinhauer, “House Spurns Obama on Libya, but Does Not Cut Funding”; Lizza, “The Consequentialists.” See also Gates, Duty, 515–16 and 520; Leon Panetta, Worthy Fights: A Memoir of Leadership in War and Peace (New York: Penguin, 2014), 310 and 380–82; Corn, Showdown, 209–16.
57.Sanger, Confront and Conceal, 357.
58.Barack Obama, “Address to the Nation on Libya,” American Rhetoric, March 28, 2011, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamalibyanationspeech.htm; Chris Cillizza, “President Obama’s Libya Speech: First Thoughts,” Washington Post, March 28, 2011, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/president-obamas-libya-speech-first-thoughts/2011/03/28/AFlfa5qB_blog.html; Corn, Showdown, 218–20.
59.Sanger, Confront and Conceal, 357–58.
60.Ibid., 358–60.
61.Ibid., 361–63.
62.Ibid., 361.
63.Brian Michael Jenkins, “The 1970s and the Birth of Contemporary Terrorism,” The Hill, July 30, 2015, https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/homeland-security/249688-the-1970s-and-the-birth-of-contemporary-terrorism; Peter Bergen and Courtney Schuster, “The Golden Age of Terrorism,” CNN, August 21, 2015, https://www.cnn.com/2015/07/28/opinions/bergen-1970s-terrorism/index.html; Simon Rogers, “Four Decades of US Terror Attacks Listed and Detailed,” Guardian, April 17, 2013, https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/apr/17/four-decades-us-terror-attacks-listed-since-1970.
64.David Klaidman, Kill or Capture: The War on Terror and the Soul of the Obama Presidency (Boston: Mariner Books, 2013), 18–19, 215–20, 241–47, and 261–65.
65.Ibid., 32 and 43; Charlie Savage, Power Wars: Inside Obama’s Post-9/11 Presidency (New York: Little, Brown, 2015), 60–67.
66.Klaidman, Kill or Capture, 39–43; Savage, Power Wars, 67–88.
67.Savage, Power Wars, 25–35.
68.Klaidman, Kill or Capture, 245–47. Since bin Laden’s death a number of books and articles have been written, mostly by journalists, including Carlotta Gall, the bureau chief in Afghanistan for the New York Times, and the highly respected investigative reporter Seymour Hersh, disputing the official account of what took place both before and after the raid at Abbottabad. They argue that Pakistan knew about, and was complicit in, killing bin Laden. They even claim that the leader of Al-Qaeda had been under protective custody of the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the intelligence arm of the Pakistani military, which controlled the Taliban and wanted to destabilize the Kabul government because of its close relationship with India. See Carlotta Gall, The Wrong Enemy: America in Afghanistan, 2001–2014 (New York: Mariner Books, 2014) and Seymour Hersh, The Killing of Osama bin Laden (New York: Verso, 2016). At a press conference, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest denied Hersh’s claims, stating that the book was “riddled with inaccuracies and outright falsehoods.” Other security analysts rejected Hersh’s account. See transcript of Amy Goodman, “Seymour Hersh’s New Book Disputes U.S. Account of Bin Laden Killing,” Democracy Now, April 26, 2010, https://www.democracynow.org/2016/4/25/part_2_seymour_hershs_new_book; “Pakistan Helped Lead US to Bin Laden,” Australian Associated Press, May 3, 2011, web page no longer available. This account is based on my own reading of the pertinent literature, including former president Barack’s latest memoirs, A Promised Land, 676–700.
69.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 677.
70.The quote is from Mark Bowden, “The Hunt for Geronimo,” Vanity Fair, October 12, 2012, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/politics/2012/11/inside-osama-bin-laden-assassination-plot. See also Panetta, Worthy Fights, 289–92; Nicholas Schmidle, “Getting Bin Laden: What Happened That Night in Abbottabad,” New Yorker, August 1, 2011, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/08/08/getting-bin-laden.
71.Massimo Calabresi, “CIA Chief: Pakistan Would Have Jeopardized bin Laden Operation,” Forum, May 3, 2011, https://www.ocregister.com/2011/05/03/massimo-calabresi-pakistan-would-have-jeopardized-bin-laden-raid/; Sanger, Confront and Conceal, 241–43; Schmidle, “Getting Bin Laden.”
72.The quote is from Bowden, “The Hunt for Geronimo”; Panetta, Worthy Fights, 294–300, 307–20; Jonathan Alter, The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2013), 144–48; Michelle Obama, Becoming (New York: Crown, 2018), 346–47 and 362–64; Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 691–92.
73.Schmidle, “Getting Bin Laden”; Alter, The Center Holds, 149–50.
74.Schmidle, “Getting Bin Laden”; Alter, The Center Holds, 152.
75.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 692; Schmidle, “Getting Bin Laden”; Alter, The Center Holds, 151 and 153–55.
76.Adam Rubin, “Phillies Crowd Erupts in ‘U-S-A’ Cheers,” ESPN, May 3, 2011, https://www.espn.com/new-york/mlb/news/story?id=6463361; Alter, The Center Holds, 154–57.
77.Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, Double Down: Game Change 2012 (New York: Penguin, 2013), 23; Alter, The Center Holds, 154.
78.Barack Obama, A Promised Land, 699.
79.Dan Baltz, Collision 2012: Obama vs. Romney and the Future of American Elections in America (New York: Viking, 2013), 35–50; Alter, The Center Holds, 174–75.
80.Barack Obama, “Announces Candidacy for 2012 Presidency,” American Rhetoric, April 26, 2011, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobama2012prescandidacy.htm.
81.Halperin and Heilemann, Double Down, 15–18; Baltz, Collision 2012, 41–42; Alter, The Center Holds, 14–17.
82.“President Obama Job Approval,” Real Clear Politics, January 2017, https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_obama_job_approval-1044.html; Dan Kopf, “Obama’s Approval Rating from His First Day to His Last, in Charts,” Quartz, January 20, 2017, https://qz.com/889644/obamas-approval-rating-from-his-first-day-to-his-last-in-charts/; Michael Barbaro, “Donald Trump Clung to ‘Birther’ Lie for Years, and Still Isn’t Apologetic,” New York Times, September 16, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/17/us/politics/donald-trump-obama-birther.html; Benjy Sarlin, “With Drudge Report’s Help, Birthers Latch onto Phony Forgery Theory,” April 29, 2011, https://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/with-drudge-report-s-help-birthers-latch-onto-phony-forgery-theory; “Arpaio: Birth Certificate a Fraud,” Associated Press, July 17, 2012, https://www.politico.com/story/2012/07/arpaio-birth-certificate-a-fraud-078645; Victor Zapanta, “Rep. Jean Schmidt Tells Birther: ‘I Agree with You,’ ” ThinkProgress, September 8, 2009, https://archive.thinkprogress.org/rep-jean-schmidt-tells-birther-i-agree-with-you-9a073cb91cdf/; Halperin and Heilemann, Double Down, 10–12 and 17–21; Jeffrey M. Jones, “Obama’s Job Approval Average Slides to New Low in 11th Quarter,” Gallup, October 21, 2011, https://news.gallup.com/poll/150230/obama-job-approval-average-slides-new-low-11th-quarter.aspx; Baltz, Collision 2012, 42; Alter, The Center Holds, 34–35.
83.Barbaro, “Donald Trump Clung to ‘Birther’ Lie for Years”; Mark Steyn: “Eternally Shifting Sand of Obama’s Biography,” Orange County Register, May 21, 2012, https://www.ocregister.com/2012/05/21/mark-steyn-eternally-shifting-sands-of-obamas-biography/; Bob Unruh, “Mark Steyn Jumps into Obama Eligibility Debate,” October 27, 2014, https://www.wnd.com/2014/10/media-star-jumps-into-obama-eligibility-debate/; Alter, The Center Holds, 39–40.
84.Barack Obama, “Address on Release of Official Certification of Birth,” American Rhetoric, April 27, 2011, https://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamabirthcertificatespeech.htm.
85.Alter, The Center Holds, 179; Molly Ball, “Was Mitt Romney a Good Governor,” Atlantic, May 31, 2012, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/05/was-mitt-romney-a-good-governor/257942/; Balz, Collision 2012, 28–34.
86.James Joyner, “Mitt Romney 2012 GOP Favorite,” Outside the Beltway, April 11, 2010, https://www.outsidethebeltway.com/mitt_romney_2012_gop_favorite/; “2012 Republican Presidential Nomination,” Real Clear Politics, n.d., https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/us/republican_presidential_nomination-1452.html; Alter, The Center Holds, 179–90 and 220–22; Baltz, Collision 2012, 87–238.
87.Barack Obama, “Address on the Economy at Osawatomie High School,” American Rhetoric, December 6, 2011, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamaosawatomieeconomy.htm; Ken Thomas, “In Osawatomie Speech, Obama Embracing Roosevelt’s Middle-Class Appeal,” AP, December 6, 2011, https://www.newsmax.com/US/Obama/2011/12/06/id/420043; Alter, The Center Holds, 235–36.
88.Barack Obama, “Address on the Economy at Osawatomie High School.”
89.Barack Obama, “Address on the Economy at Osawatomie High School”; Benjamin Soskins, “New Republic: Are We Misreading Obama’s Speech,” NPR, December 2, 2011, https://www.npr.org/2011/12/07/143258671/new-republic-are-we-misreading-obamas-speech.
90.Barack Obama, “Address on the Economy at Osawatomie High School.”
91.Ibid.
92.Barack Obama, “Third Presidential State of the Union Address,” American Rhetoric, January 24, 2012, https://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/stateoftheunion2012.htm.
93.Ibid.
94.Alter, The Center Holds.
95.Matt Bai, “Did Barack Obama Save Ohio,” New York Times Magazine, September 5, 2012, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/magazine/ohio-economy.html.
96.“Transcript: Michelle Obama’s Convention Speech,” NPR, September 4, 2012, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93963863; Richard Adams, “Michelle Obama Speaks to the Democratic National Convention—as It Happened,” Guardian, September 4, 2012, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/sep/04/michelle-obama-democratic-convention-live; Tina Daunt, “2012 Democratic Convention: Michelle Obama Receives Rapturous Response during Speech,” September 4, 2012, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/michelle-obama-democratic-national-convention-367983/; Rebecca Shapiro, “Michelle Obama Media Reactions: Pundits Swoon over First Lady’s DNC Speech,” September 5, 2012, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/michelle-obama-media-reactions-dnc-speech_n_1856453; Tim Mak, “Reviews: Flotus Hits It out of the Park,” Politico, September 5, 2012, https://www.politico.com/story/2012/09/reviews-michelle-hits-it-out-of-park-080738; Halperin and Heilemann, Double Down, 34–36; Michelle Obama, Becoming, 336–39, 347–48, 365–66, and 371–76.
97.Baltz, Collision 2012, 340–41; Alter, The Center Holds, 206–18.
98.Josh Vorhees and Daniel Politi, “Romney Camp Had No Idea Clint Eastwood Was Going to Talk to a Chair,” Slate, September 1, 2012, https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2012/09/ann-romney-on-clint-eastwood-his-rnc-speech-was-unique.html; M. J. Lee, “Eastwood’s Rambling RNC Speech,” Politico, August 31, 2012, https://www.politico.com/story/2012/08/clint-eastwoods-rambling-gop-speech-080498; Toby Harnden, “Clint Eastwood Wowed Republican Delegates,” Daily Mail, August 31, 2012, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2196201/Clint-Eastwoods-speech-steals-GOP-2012-convention.html; Mackenzie Weinger, “Paul: I’m an ‘Undecided’ Voter,” Politico, August 28, 2012, https://www.politico.com/story/2012/08/ron-paul-im-an-undecided-voter-080301.
99.“Transcript: Mitt Romney’s Acceptance Speech,” NPR, August 30, 2012, https://www.npr.org/2012/08/30/160357612/transcript-mitt-romneys-acceptance-speech; Jennifer Rubin, “Mitt Romney’s Acceptance Speech,” Washington Post, August 30, 2012, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/mitt-romneys-acceptance-speech/2012/08/30/f51a3e1c-f2fb-11e1-adc6-87dfa8eff430_blog.html.
100.Scot Lehigh, “Democrats Pay Tribute to Ted Kennedy,” Boston Globe, September 4, 2012, https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2012/09/04/democrats-pay-tribute-ted-kennedy-video-montage-democrats-pay-tribute-ted-kennedy-democrats-pay-tribute-ted-kennedy-video-montage/YtWLEe0GhhXzYEMbCF1OxN/story.html; Michael A. Memoli, “Dems Recall Ted Kennedy Defeating Mitt Romney in Senate Race,” Los Angeles Times, September 4, 2012, https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-xpm-2012-sep-04-la-pn-ted-kennedy-romney-dnc-20120904-story.html.
101.“Transcript of Bill Clinton’s Speech to the Democratic National Convention,” New York Times, September 5, 2012, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/05/us/politics/transcript-of-bill-clintons-speech-to-the-democratic-national-convention.html; “ ‘The Man Is Cool on the Outside … but He Burns for America Inside’: Bill Clinton Heaps Praise on Obama as He Tears into Republicans,” Daily Mail, September 6, 2012, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2198703/Bill-Clintons-speech-heaps-praise-Obama-tears-Republicans-Democratic-National-Convention-2012.html.
102.Barack Obama, “Second Democratic Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech,” American Rhetoric, September 6, 2012, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/convention2012/barackobama2012dnc.htm; Helene Cooper and Peter Baker, “Obama Makes Case for 2nd Term: ‘Harder’ Path to ‘Better Place,’ ” New York Times, September 6, 2012, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/07/us/politics/obama-in-democratic-convention-speech-asks-for-more-time.html; Richard Adams and Adam Gabbatt, “Barack Obama’s Speech to the Democratic National Convention—as It Happened,” Guardian, September 6, 2012, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/sep/06/barack-obama-dnc-speech-live; Baltz, Collision 2012, 295.
103.Molly Moorhead, “Mitt Romney Says 47 Percent of Americans Pay No Income Tax,” PolitiFact, September 18, 2012, https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2012/sep/18/mitt-romney/romney-says-47-percent-americans-pay-no-income-tax/; Dashiell Bennett, “Who Are Mitt Romney’s 47%,”Atlantic, September 18, 2012, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/09/who-are-47/323536/.
104.Moorhead, “Mitt Romney Says 47 Percent of Americans Pay No Income Tax”; Bennett, “Who Are Mitt Romney’s 47%”; Michael Cooper, “A Closer Look at the 47 Percent,” New York Times, September 17, 2012, https://theagenda.nytimes.com/post/31758381202/a-closer-look-at-the-47-percent.
105.On this latter point see Chris Cillizza, “Why Romney’s ‘47 Percent’ Comment Was So Bad,” Washington Post, March 4, 2013, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2013/03/04/why-mitt-romneys-47-percent-comment-was-so-bad/.
106.Adam Nagourney, Ashley Parker, Jim Rutenberg, and Jeff Zeleney, “How a Race in the Balance Went to Obama,” New York Times, November 7, 2012, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/08/us/politics/obama-campaign-clawed-back-after-a-dismal-debate.html; Maeve Reston, “When Romney Trounced,” CNN Politics, September 26, 2016, https://www.cnn.com/2016/09/25/politics/obama-debate-election-2012/index.html; Alter, The Center Holds, 83–110 and 226; Baltz, Collision 212, 326–27; Halperin and Heilemann, Double Down, 28.
107.Baltz, Collision 2012, 276–78; Alter, The Center Holds, 201–6, and 233–35.
108.“Transcript and Audio-First Obama-Romney Debate,” NPR, October 3, 2012, https://www.npr.org/2012/10/03/162258551/transcript-first-obama-romney-presidential-debate; Nagourney et al., “How a Race in the Balance Went to Obama”; Ewen MacAskill, “Mitt Romney Comes Out on Top as Obama Stumbles in First Debate,” Guardian, October 4, 2012, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/oct/04/romney-obama-first-presidential-debate.
109.“Transcript and Audio-First Obama-Romney Debate”; Nagourney et al., “How a Race in the Balance Went to Obama”; Jeff Zeleny and Jim Rutenberg, “Obama and Romney, in First Debate, Spar over Fixing the Economy,” New York Times, October 3, 2012, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/04/us/politics/obama-and-romney-hold-first-debate.html; MacAskill, “Mitt Romney Comes Out on Top as Obama Stumbles in First Debate.” On Obama’s disdain for sound bites, see Alter, The Center Holds, 116–20.
110.Anup Kaphie, “Timeline: How the Benghazi Attacks Played Out,” Washington Post, June 17, 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/timeline-how-the-benghazi-attack-played-out/2014/06/17/a5c34e90-f62c-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html; Baltz, Collision 2012, 312–15.
111.The administration’s best defense of the steps taken to defend the American compound in Benghazi is Hillary Clinton, Hard Choices (New York: Simon and Schuster Paperbacks, 2014), 316–39. See also Panetta, Worthy Fights, 428–30; Baltz, Collision 2012, 316–17; Nagourney et al., “How a Race in the Balance Went to Obama”; Dakshayani Shankar, “Five Best Moments from Obama and Romney’s 2012 Second Debate,” NBC News, October 9, 2016, https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/2016-presidential-debates/five-best-moments-obama-romney-s-2012-second-debate-n662121.
112.“October 22, 2012 Debate Transcript,” Commission on Presidential Debates, October 22, 2012, https://www.debates.org/voter-education/debate-transcripts/october-22-2012-the-third-obama-romney-presidential-debate/; Tim Dickinson, “The Final Presidential Debate: Four Punches That Knocked Out Mitt Romney,” Rolling Stone, October 23, 2012, https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/the-final-presidential-debate-four-punches-that-knocked-out-mitt-romney-241491/.
113.Nagourney et al., “How a Race in the Balance Went to Obama”; Baltz, Collision 2012, 328–29, 345; Alter, The Center Holds, 121–33.
114.Nagourney et al., “How a Race in the Balance Went to Obama”; Baltz, Collision 2012, 331–32.
115.Baltz, Collision 2012, 318–34.
116.Halperin and Heilemann, Double Down, 4–6; Baltz, Collision 2012, 297–98, 335, and 338; Alter, The Center Holds, 95–97.
117.Baltz, Collision 2012, 338.
118.Robert Barnes, “Justice Kennedy, the Pivotal Swing Vote on the Supreme Court, Announces His Retirement,” Washington Post, June 17, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/justice-kennedy-the-pivotal-swing-vote-on-the-supreme-court-announces-retirement/2018/06/27/a40a8c64-5932-11e7-a204-ad706461fa4f_story.html.
119.Baltz, Collision 2012, 338.

8. Dysfunctional Government

1.Mary Ball, “Republican Wave Sweeps the Midterm Elections,” Atlantic, November 5, 2014, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/11/republicans-sweep-the-midterm-elections/382394/; “Republicans Rule House and Senate for First Time in 8 Years,” NBC News, November 4, 2014, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/republicans-rule-house-senate-first-time-8-years-n241126; Dan Pfeiffer, Yes We (Still) Can: Politics in the Age of Obama, Twitter, and Trump (New York: Twelve, 2018), 191–92; Ben Rhodes, The World as It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House (New York: Random House, 2018), 361–64; David Axelrod, Believer: My Forty Years in Politics (New York: Penguin, 2015), 486–87.
2.Jennifer Steinhauer, “Divided House Passes Tax Deal in End to Latest Fiscal Standoff,” New York Times, January 1, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/02/us/politics/house-takes-on-fiscal-cliff.html.
3.The quote is from ibid. See also Lori Montgomery and Rosalind S. Helderman, “Congress Approves ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Measure,” Washington Post, January 1, 2013, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/house-members-meet-to-review-senate-passed-cliff-deal/2013/01/01/6e4373cc-5435-11e2-bf3e-76c0a789346f_story.html; Peter Baker, Obama: The Call of History (New York: Callaway, 2017), 153.
4.“Transcript of President Obama’s News Conference,” New York Times, November 14, 2012, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/14/us/politics/running-transcript-of-president-obamas-press-conference.html.
5.“Transcript of President Obama’s News Conference.”
6.The comments on Rice’s qualification to serve as secretary of state are in Scott Wilson, “Obama Faces Array of Questions at White House News Conference,” Washington Post, November 14, 2012, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-faces-array-of-questions-at-white-house-news-conference/2012/11/14/abac87de-2e7f-11e2-beb2-4b4cf5087636_story.html.
7.Simon Rogers, “Four Decades of US Terror Attacks Listed and Detailed,” Guardian, April 17, 2013, https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/apr/17/four-decades-us-terror-attacks-listed-since-1970.
8.“Just Like Anyone Else’s Kids—The Obama Years,” History Channel, n.d., https://www.history.com/the-obama-years/newtown.html; Megan Slack, “President Obama Speaks on the Shooting in Connecticut,” Press Office, The White House, December 14, 2012, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2012/12/14/president-obama-speaks-shooting-connecticut; Jodi Kantor, “Change Comes after 4 Years, Friends See Shifts in the Obamas,” New York Times, January 19, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/20/us/politics/after-4-years-friends-see-shifts-in-obamas.html.
9.“President Obama’s Speech at Prayer Vigil for Newtown Shooting Victims (Full Transcript),” Washington Post, December 16, 2012, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/president-obamas-speech-at-prayer-vigil-for-newtown-shooting-victims-full-transcript/2012/12/16/f764bf8a-47dd-11e2-ad54-580638ede391_story.html.
10.“Just Like Anyone Else’s Kids—The Obama Years.”
11.Barack Obama, “Second Presidential Inaugural Address,” American Rhetoric, January 21, 2013, https://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamasecondinauguraladdress.htm; Barack Obama, “Fourth Presidential State of the Union Address,” American Rhetoric, February12, 2013, https://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/stateoftheunion2013.htm; Carney’s quote is from William A. Galston, “Reaction and Analysis to President Obama’s State of the Union,” Brookings, February 12, 2013, https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2013/02/12/reaction-and-analysis-to-president-obamas-2013-state-of-the-union/.
12.United States Senate, “Roll Call Vote 113th Congress—1st Session,” April 17, 2013, https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=113&session=1&vote=00004); Jonathan Weisman, “Senate Blocks Drive for Gun Control,” New York Times, April 17, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/us/politics/senate-obama-gun-control.html; Ed O’Keefe and Phillip Rucker, “Gun Control Overhaul Is Defeated in Senate,” Washington Post, April 17, 2013, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gun-control-overhaul-is-defeated-in-senate/2013/04/17/57eb028a-a77c-11e2-b029-8fb7e977ef71_story.html.
13.John Eligon and Michael Cooper, “Blasts at Boston Marathon Kill 3 and Injure 100,” New York Times, April 15, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/16/us/explosions-reported-at-site-of-boston-marathon.html; Masha Gessen, “In the Boston Marathon, a Verdict, but Few Answers,” New York Times, April 8, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/09/opinion/in-the-boston-marathon-bombing-dzhokhar-tsarnaev-verdict-but-few-answers.html.
14.Plouffe’s remark can be found in “Just Like Anyone Else’s Kids—The Obama Years”; “Obama’s Remarks after Senate Gun Votes,” New York Times, April 17, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/us/politics/obamas-remarks-after-senate-gun-votes.html. See also Dan Roberts, “Gun Control: Barack Obama Condemns ‘Shameful’ Failure to Pass Reform,” Guardian, April 18, 2013, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/apr/18/obama-condemns-senate-gun-reform.
15.Kantor, “Change Comes after 4 Years.”
16.Ibid.
17.Only years later would it be disclosed that the IRS also looked at liberal groups seeking tax-exempt status. Peter Baker, Obama: The Call of History, new ed. (New York: Callaway Arts and Entertainment, 2019), 238; Micah Cohen, “I.R.S. Approved Dozens of Tea Party Groups Following Congressional Scrutiny,” New York Times, May 6, 2013, https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/i-r-s-approved-dozens-of-tea-party-groups-following-congressional-scrutiny/; Alan Rappeport, “In Targeting Political Groups, I.R.S. Crossed Party Lines,” New York Times, October 5, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/us/politics/irs-targeting-tea-party-liberals-democrats.html.
18.Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, “Barack Obama, Remarks at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner,” The American Presidency Project, April 27, 2013, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/304052; Peter Baker, “Onset of Woes Casts Pall over Obama’s Policy Aspirations,” New York Times, May 15, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/us/politics/new-controversies-may-undermine-obama.html Baker, Obama, new ed., 240–41; Maureen Dowd, “No Bully in the Pulpit,” New York Times, April 20, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/21/opinion/sunday/dowd-president-obama-is-no-bully-in-the-pulpit.html.
19.Barack Obama, “Address to the People of Northern Ireland,” American Rhetoric, June 17, 2013, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamanorthernireland.htm; Barack Obama, “Brandenburg Gate Address,” American Rhetoric, June 19, 2013, https://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamabrandenburggate.htm; Barack Obama, “University of Cape Town Address,” American Rhetoric, June 30, 2013, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamacapetownuniversity.htm; Louise Boyle, “Obama Braves Blistering Berlin Heat to Make Speech before Invite-Only Crowd of 4,500 (That’s 195,500 FEWER Than Last Time He Was in Germany),” Daily Mail, June 19, 2013, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2344442/Obama-makes-historic-speech-Brandenburg-Gate-Berlin.html.
20.Harriet Sherwood, “Barack Obama Visits Israel in Effort to Boost Relations with Netanyahu,” Guardian, March 20, 2013, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/20/barack-obama-visits-israel; Mark Landler and Jodi Rudoren, “In Israel, Obama Seeks to Offer Reassurance of ‘Unbreakable Bonds,’ ” New York Times, March 20, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/world/middleeast/obama-arrives-in-israel-for-two-day-trip.html.
21.“Historic Visit Comes to Close, Obama Departs Israel,” Jerusalem Post, March 22, 2013, https://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Obama-to-visit-Herzl-Rabin-graves-as-Israel-trip-concludes-307391; Landler and Rudoren, “In Israel, Obama Seeks to Offer Reassurance of ‘Unbreakable Bonds’ ”; Colleen Curtis, “On Third Day of Middle East Trip, President Obama Visits Jewish and Christian Landmarks,” Obama White House Archives, March 22, 2013, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2013/03/22/third-day-middle-east-trip-president-obama-visits-jewish-and-christian-landmarks.
22.Michael Martinez, “5 Things to Know about Obama’s Presidential Visit to Israel,” CNN Politics, May 20, 2013, https://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/20/politics/obama-mideast-five-things/index.html; Sherwood, “Barack Obama Visits Israel in Effort to Boost Relations with Netanyahu”; Curtis, “On Third Day of Middle East Trip, President Obama Visits Jewish and Christian Landmarks.”
23.Barack Obama, “Address at the Jerusalem International Convention Center,” American Rhetoric, March 21, 2013. https://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamajerusalemconventioncenter.htm; Robert Tait, “Barack Obama Turned Israel’s Narrative Back on Them,” Telegraph, March 21, 2013, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/9947184/Barack-Obama-turned-Israels-narrative-back-on-them.html.
24.“A Corker of a Speech,” Pomegranate (blog), Economist, March 21, 2013, https://www.economist.com/pomegranate/2013/03/21/a-corker-of-a-speech; Tait, “Barack Obama Turned Israel’s Narrative Back on Them.” See also Landler and Rudoren, “In Israel, Obama Seeks to Offer Reassurance of ‘Unbreakable Bonds’ ”; “Remarks by President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel in Joint Press Conference,” Office of the Press Secretary, The White House, March 20, 2013, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/03/20/remarks-president-obama-and-prime-minister-netanyahu-israel-joint-press-; Landler and Rudoren, “In Israel, Obama Seeks to Offer Reassurance of ‘Unbreakable Bonds’ ”; Julie Pace, “Obama, Netanyahu Show Solidarity on Iran and the Mideast,” Associated Press, March 20, 2013, https://news.yahoo.com/obama-netanyahu-show-solidarity-iran-234329024--politics.html.
25.David Remnick, “Obama in Israel: A President at Large,” New Yorker, March 21, 2013, https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/obama-in-israel-a-president-at-large; Josh Ruebner, “Obama’s Legacy on Israel/Palestine,” Institute for Palestinian Studies 46 (2016–2017), https://oldwebsite.palestine-studies.org/jps/fulltext/207365.
26.Daniel Klaidman, Kill or Capture: The War on Terror and the Soul of the Obama Presidency (Boston: Mariner Books, 2013), 21–22, 32, and 42–43.
27.“Obama’s Speech on Drone Policy,” New York Times, March 24, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/24/us/politics/transcript-of-obamas-speech-on-drone-policy.html.
28.Ibid.
29.Ibid.
30.The quotes can be found in Lesley Clark and Jonathan S. Landay, “Obama Speech Suggests Possible Expansion of Drone Killings,” McClatchy, May 23, 2013, https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article24749398.html. See also Tom McCarthy, “Obama Speech: ‘Perpetual War Will Prove Self-Defeating’—as It Happened,” Guardian, May 23, 2013, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/23/obama-drones-guantanamo-speech-live; Karen DeYoung and Greg Miller, “Obama: U.S. at ‘Crossroads’ in Fight against Terrorism,” Washington Post, May 23, 2013, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-outlines-new-rules-for-drones/2013/05/23/1b5918e6-c3cb-11e2-914f-a7aba60512a7_story.html; Danya Greenfield, “Obama’s Drone Speech Misses the Mark,”Foreign Policy, June 4, 2013, https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/06/04/obamas-drone-speech-misses-the-mark/.
31.Barack Obama, “Remarks by the President to the White House Press Corps,” Office of the Press Secretary, The White House, August 20, 2012, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2012/08/20/remarks-president-white-house-press-corps; Peter Baker, “Off-the-Cuff Obama Line Put U.S. in Bind on Syria,” New York Times, May 4, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/world/middleeast/obamas-vow-on-chemical-weapons-puts-him-in-tough-spot.html.
32.Barack Obama, “Address to the 113th Convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars,” American Rhetoric, July 23, 2012, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobama113vfw.htm. See also “Full Transcript: President Obama’s Press Conference with Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt in Stockholm,” Washington Post, September 4, 2013, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/full-transcript-president-obamas-press-conference-with-swedish-prime-minister-fredrik-reinfeldt-in-stockholm/2013/09/04/35e3e08e-1569-11e3-804b-d3a1a3a18f2c_story.ht.
33.On this point, see Rhodes, The World as It Is, 223–40. For a different view, however, see Glenn Kessler, “President Obama and the ‘Red Line’ on Syria’s Chemical Weapons,” Washington Post, September 6, 2013, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2013/09/06/president-obama-and-the-red-line-on-syrias-chemical-weapons/.
34.Patrice Taddonio, “ ‘The President Blinked’: Why Obama Changed Course on the ‘Red Line’ in Syria,” “Frontline,” PBS, May 25, 2015, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/the-president-blinked-why-obama-changed.
35.Alex Lockie, “Inside the Most Embarrassing Foreign Policy Failure of Obama’s Presidency—the Syrian ‘Red Line,’ ” Business Insider, June 4, 2018, https://www.businessinsider.com/ben-rhodes-on-obamas-syrian-red-line-foreign-policy-failure-2018-6; John Dickerson, “Obama’s War of Words,” Slate, August 28, 2013, https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2013/08/barack-obamas-red-line-the-presidents-foreign-policy-rhetoric-on-syria-has-closed-his-options.html; Rhodes, The World as It Is, 230–31; Ben Rhodes, “Inside the White House during the Syrian ‘Red Line’ Crisis,” Atlantic, June 3, 2018, https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/06/inside-the-white-house-during-the-syrian-red-line-crisis/561887/.
36.Barack Obama, “On the Use of Chemical Weapons by the Syrian Government,” American Rhetoric, August 31, 2013, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamasyriachemicalweapons.htm; Taddonio, “ ‘The President Blinked’ ”; Derek Chollett, “Obama’s Red Line, Revisited,” Politico, July 19, 2016, https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/07/obama-syria-foreign-policy-red-line-revisited-214059/; Peter Baker and Jonathan Weisman, “Obama Seeks Approval by Congress for Strike in Syria,” New York Times, August 31, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/01/world/middleeast/syria.html; Susan Rice, Tough Love: My Story of the Things Worth Fighting For (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2019), 362–64; Rhodes, The World as It Is, 233–37.
37.Lockie, “Inside the Most Embarrassing Foreign Policy Failure of Obama’s Presidency”; Rhodes, “Inside the White House during the Syrian ‘Red Line’ Crisis.”
38.Chollet, “Obama’s Red Line, Revisited”; Baker, Obama, new ed., 257–58.
39.Geoff Dyer, “John Kerry and Sergei Lavrov Meet UN Syria Envoy,” Financial Times, September 13, 2013, https://www.ft.com/content/73efd592-1bd9-11e3-b678-00144feab7de; Patrick J. McDonnell, “Syria Backs Russian Proposal for Regime to Hand Over Chemical Weapons,” Los Angeles Times, September 9, 2013, https://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-syria-russia-chemical-weapons-20130909-story.html.
40.Barack Obama, “Address to the Nation on U.S. Military Action in Syria,” American Rhetoric, September 10, 2013, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamasyrianation.htm; Jim Newell, “Barack Obama Address on Syria Weapons Plan—as It Happened,” Guardian, September 10, 2013, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/10/barack-obama-tv-address-syria-chemical-weapons; Alia Dastagir, “Obama’s Syria Speech: 10 Things You Need to Know,” USA Today, September 10, 2013, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/09/10/obama-syria-speeches/2796333.
41.Obama, “Address to the Nation on U.S. Military Action in Syria”; Newell, “Barack Obama Address on Syria Weapons Plan.”
42.Anthony Deutsch, “Exclusive: Syria Begins Destruction of Chemical Weapons Facilities,” Reuters, January 19, 2013, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-crisis-chemicalweapons-idUSKBN0KS1GY20150119.
43.John Bolton, “Obama Put America in a Red-Line Box on Syria,” Wall Street Journal, April 28, 2013, https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323528404578450561574249892. Pavel is quoted in Peter Baker, Mark Landler, David E. Sanger, and Anne Barnard, “Off-the-Cuff Obama Line Put U.S. in Bind on Syria,” New York Times, May 4, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/world/middleeast/obamas-vow-on-chemical-weapons-puts-him-in-tough-spot.html; Shibley Telhami, “President Obama’s Confused Logic on Syria,” Brookings, September 10, 2013, https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/president-obamas-confused-logic-on-syria/.
44.Barack Obama, “On Strengthening the Economy for the Middle Class,” American Rhetoric, February 15, 2013, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamamiddleclasseconomy.htm.
45.“U.S. Violence against Women Act Renewed,” Human Rights Watch, February 28, 2013, https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/02/28/us-violence-against-women-act-renewed.
46.Obama, “Fourth Presidential State of the Union Address”; “The Council on Women and Girls: Violence against Women Accomplishments,” Obama White House Archives, June 2016, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/documents/Women%20and%20Girls_VAW.pdf.
47.Obama is quoted in Jennifer Bendery, “VAWA Vote: Senate Overwhelmingly Passes Violence against Women Act,” Huffington Post, February 12, 2013, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/vawa-vote_n_2669720; “Senate Approves Anti-Violence against Women Act,” Associated Press, February 12, 2013, https://news.yahoo.com/senate-approves-anti-violence-against-women-act-201051981--politics.html; Rosalind S. Helderman, “Violence against Women Act Passed by House, Sent to Obama for Signature,” Washington Post, February 28, 2013, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/violence-against-women-act-passed-by-house-sent-to-obama-for-signature/2013/02/28/c540f058-81b4-11e2-b99e-6baf4ebe42df_story.html.
48.“Remarks by the President and Vice President at Signing of the Violence against Women Act,” Office of the Press Secretary, The White House, March 7, 2013, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/03/07/remarks-president-and-vice-president-signing-violence-against-women-act.
49.Suzy Khimm, “The Sequester Explained,” Washington Post, September 14, 2012, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2012/09/14/the-sequester-explained/; Suzy Khimm, Ezra Klein, Dylan Matthews, and Brad Plumer, “The Fiscal Cliff: Absolutely Everything You Could Possibly Need to Know, in One FAQ,” Washington Post, November 27, 2012, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2012/11/27/absolutely-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-fiscal-cliff-in-one-faq/; Dylan Matthews, “Can a Possible Government Shutdown Save Us from the Sequester?” Washington Post, February 27, 2013, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/02/27/can-a-possible-government-shutdown-save-us-from-the-sequester/.
50.Khimm, “The Sequester Explained.”
51.“Statement by the President on the Sequester,” Office of the Press Secretary, The White House, March 1, 2013, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/03/01/statement-president-sequester.
52.Richard Cowan and David Lawder, “Republicans Unveil 10-Year Plan to Shrink Deficit,” Reuters, March 11, 2013, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-fiscal-ryan-idUSBRE92B02E20130312; Kristina Peterson, “Democrats’ Budget Equally Lifts Taxes, Cuts Spending,” Wall Street Journal, March 3, 2013, https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324392804578358760519778702.
53.Lori Montgomery, “Obama Releases a Budget Plan with a Simple Goal: Ending the Debt Standoff,” Washington Post, April 10, 2013, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/obama-to-unveil-377-trillion-spending-plan/2013/04/10/843adef4-a18d-11e2-82bc-511538ae90a4_story.html; Sharon Parrott, Joel Friedman, Richard Kogan, and Paul N. Van De Water, “President Obama’s Deficit-Reduction Package and Other Proposals in the 2014 Budget,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, April 11, 2013, https://www.cbpp.org/research/president-obamas-deficit-reduction-package-and-other-proposals-in-the-2014-budget.
54.Tod Lindberg, “Do Republicans Oppose Everything Obama Does? Here’s a Test,” New Republic, August 8, 2013, https://newrepublic.com/article/114206/republican-obstructionism-ideological-or-partisan; “Cantor Says GOP Efforts to Oppose ACA Will Continue after Recess,” California Healthline Daily Edition, August 26, 2013, https://californiahealthline.org/morning-breakout/cantor-says-gop-efforts-to-oppose-aca-will-continue-after-recess/.
55.Jonathan Weisman, “House G.O.P. Raises Stakes in Debt-Ceiling Fight,” New York Times, September 26, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/27/us/politics/house-gop-leaders-list-conditions-for-raising-debt-ceiling.html; Burgess Everett and Jake Sherman, “Shutdown: Congress Sputters on CR,” Politico, October 13, 2013, https://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/house-senate-government-shutdown-097557.
56.Elizabeth Landau and Caleb Hellerman, “5 Things That Have Happened Since Obamacare Launched,” CNN Health, October 19, 2013, https://www.cnn.com/2013/10/19/health/obamacare-enrollment-launch-overview/index.html; Thomas B. Edsall, “The Obamacare Crisis,” New York Times, November 19, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/20/opinion/edsall-the-obamacare-crisis.html.
57.David Frum, “The Obamacare Ripoff: More Money for Less Insurance,” Daily Beast, October 29, 2013, https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-obamacare-ripoff-more-money-for-less-insurance.
58.Barack Obama, “Statement on the U.S. Government Shutdown,” American Rhetoric, October 2, 2013, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamagovernmentshutdown.htm.
59.Ian Hill, Margaret Wilkinson, and John Holahan, “The Launch of the Affordable Care Act in Selected States: The Problem of Provider Capacity,” Urban Institute, March 2014, http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/22361/413043-The-Launch-of-the-Affordable-Care-Act-in-Eight-States-The-Problem-of-Provider-Capacity.PDF.
60.“Full Transcript: President Obama’s Oct. 8 News Conference on the Shutdown and Debt Limit,” Washington Post, October 8, 2013, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/transcript-president-obamas-oct-8-news-conference-on-the-shutdown-and-debt-limit/2013/10/08/866088c0-3038-11e3-8906-3daa2bcde110_story.html.
61.Ibid.
62.Lori Montgomery and Rosalind S. Helderman, “Congress Sends Obama Bill to End Shutdown,” Washington Post, October 17, 2013, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-effort-to-end-fiscal-crisis-collapses-leaving-senate-to-forge-last-minute-solution/2013/10/16/1e8bb150-364d-11e3-be86-6aeaa439845b_story.html; Jonathan Weisman and Ashley Parker, “Republicans Back Down, Ending Crisis over Shutdown and Debt Limit,” New York Times, October 16, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/17/us/congress-budget-debate.html.
63.Montgomery and Helderman, “Congress Sends Obama Bill to End Shutdown”; Weisman and Parker, “Republicans Back Down.”
64.“Senate Nears Shutdown Endgame While House Support Remains in Question,” PBS News Hour, October 15, 2013, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/senate-nears-shutdown-endgame-while-house-support-remains-in-question; Weisman and Parker, “Republicans Back Down”; Montgomery and Helderman, “Congress Sends Obama Bill to End Shutdown”; Alexander Bolton and Pete Kasperowicz, “Shutdown Ends; Obama Signs Deal,” The Hill, October 17, 2013, https://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/328989-congress-approves-deal-to-end-shutdown-raise-debt-ceiling.
65.The first quote is from Montgomery and Helderman, “Congress Sends Obama Bill to End Shutdown.” The second is from Weisman and Parker, “Republicans Back Down.”
66.“Transcript: President Obama’s Oct. 17 Remarks on the Budget Deal,” Washington Post, October 17, 2013, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/transcript-president-obamas-oct-17-remarks-on-shutdown-deal/2013/10/17/3eff02b6-3738-11e3-8a0e-4e2cf80831fc_story.html.
67.Ibid.
68.Ibid.; Jonathan Weisman and Ashley Parker, “House Approves Higher Debt Limit without Conditions,” New York Times, February 11, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/12/us/politics/boehner-to-bring-debt-ceiling-to-vote-without-policy-attachments.html; Jake Sherman, “House Passes Clean Debt Ceiling Bill,” Politico, February 11, 2014, https://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/house-gop-debt-limit-plan-103370.
69.Wesley Lowery, “Congress Approves Increase in Debt Limit after Dramatic Vote,” Washington Post, February 12, 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2014/02/12/senate-to-vote-on-debt-limit-increase-vote-early-this-afternoon/; Sherman, “House Passes Clean Debt Ceiling Bill.”
70.Sherman, “House Passes Clean Debt Ceiling Bill.”
71.Barack Obama, “Fifth Presidential State of the Union,” January 28, 2014, American Rhetoric, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/stateoftheunion2014.htm.
72.Ibid.; Peter Baker, “In State of the Union Address, Obama Vows to Act Alone on the Economy,” New York Times, January 24, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/us/politics/obama-state-of-the-union.html.
73.Baker, “In State of the Union Address, Obama Vows to Act Alone on the Economy.”
74.“Text and Video of the G.O.P. Response to Obama’s Speech,” New York Times, January 27, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/us/politics/text-of-the-gop-response-to-obamas-speech.html; William A. Galston, “SOTU 2014: Reaction to President Obama’s State of the Union,” Brookings, January 28, 2014, https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2014/01/28/sotu-2014-reaction-to-president-obamas-state-of-the-union/.
75.Rice, Tough Love, 398; James Clapper, Facts and Fears: Hard Truths from a Life in Intelligence (New York: Viking, 2018), 257–61; Mark Landler, Annie Lowrey, and Steven Lee Myers, “Obama Steps Up Russia Sanctions in Ukraine Crisis,” New York Times, March 20, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/21/us/politics/us-expanding-sanctions-against-russia-over-ukraine.html.
76.Clapper, Facts and Fears, 257–61; Landler, Lowrey, and Myers, “Obama Steps Up Russia Sanctions in Ukraine Crisis.”
77.Rice, Tough Love, 398–401; “Transcript: Obama Announces Sanctions after Crimea Referendum, Washington Post, March 20, 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/transcript-obama-announces-sanctions-after-crimea-referendum/2014/03/17/b000e574-ade4-11e3-9627-c65021d6d572_story.html; Landler, Lowrey, and Myers, “Obama Steps Up Russia Sanctions in Ukraine Crisis.”
78.Barack Obama, “Statement on the Downing Malaysia Airlines Flight 17,” American Rhetoric, July 18, 2014, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamaflightmh17.htm; Aliyah Frumin, “Obama’s Dilemma: How to Push Putin without Causing More Problems,” MSNBC, July 21, 2014, https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obamas-dilemma-how-push-putin-without-causing-more-problems-msna373631; Michael E. O’Hanlon, “Obama the Carpenter: The President’s National Security Legacy,” Brookings, May 2015, https://www.brookings.edu/research/obama-the-carpenter-the-presidents-national-security-legacy/; Baker, new ed., Obama, 265–67.
79.Rice, Tough Love, 404 and 418–23.
80.Rhodes, The World as It Is, 291; Rice, Tough Love, 358–61 and 418–19. Clapper tried later to defend himself for the poor intelligence on the Iraqi army remarking that while intelligence analysis was “very good at evaluating capabilities,” it lacked “clairvoyance” and found it “frustratingly difficult” to assess “the will to fight,” as proven by its underestimation of the Vietcong and its overestimation of the South Vietnamese army during the Vietnam War. Clapper, Facts and Fears, 257–59 and 264. See also Rice, Tough Love, 418–19.
81.Spencer Ackerman, “Obama: Murder of James Foley ‘Shocks the Conscience of the Entire World,’ ” Guardian, August 20, 2014, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/20/james-foley-isis-video-authenticated-us-government; “James Foley: Islamic State Militants ‘Behead Reporter,’ ” BBC, August 20, 2014, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28862268; “Outrage over ISIS Beheading of US Journalist James Foley—Live Updates,” Guardian, April 20, 2014, https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2014/aug/20/iraq-crisis-outrage-over-isis-beheading-of-us-journalist-james-foley-live-updates; Erin Banco, “Muslim World Reacts to Isis Brutal Tactics, Beheading of U.S. Journalist James Foley,” International Business Times, August 22, 2014, https://www.ibtimes.com/muslim-world-reacts-isis-brutal-tactics-beheading-us-journalist-james-foley-1665792.
82.“Transcript: President Obama’s Remarks on the Execution of Journalist James Foley by Islamic State,” Washington Post, August 20, 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/transcript-president-obamas-remarks-on-the-execution-of-journalist-james-foley-by-islamic-state/2014/08/20/f5a63802-2884-11e4-8593-da634b334390_story.html.
83.“Ibid.; Zeke Miller, Erin Dooley, and Arlette Saenz, “ ‘World Appalled’ by James Foley Beheading, Obama Says,” ABC News, August 20, 2014, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/world-appalled-james-foley-beheading-obama/story?id=25052699.
84.Julie Pace, “US Mission to Rescue Hostages in Syria Failed,” Military.com, August 21, 2014, web page no longer available; Karen DeYoung, “The Anatomy of a Failed Hostage Rescue Deep in Islamic State Territory,” Washington Post, February 14, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/the-anatomy-of-a-failed-hostage-rescue-deep-into-islamic-state-territory/2015/02/14/09a5d9a0-b2fc-11e4-827f-93f454140e2b_story.html.
85.DeYoung, “The Anatomy of a Failed Hostage Rescue Deep in Islamic State Territory”; Shiv Malik, “John Cantlie Speaks about Failed US Attempt to Rescue Hostages in ISIS Video,” Guardian, November 21, 2014, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/21/john-cantlie-failed-us-attempt-rescue-isis-hostages-raqqa-video.
86.The quotes can be found in “Full Transcript of BuzzFeed News Interview with President Barack Obama,” BuzzFeed News, February 11, 2015, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/buzzfeednews/full-transcript-of-buzzfeed-news-interview-with-president; and in DeYoung, “The Anatomy of a Failed Hostage Rescue Deep in Islamic State Territory.” See also Thomas L. Friedman, “Obama on the World,” New York Times, August 8, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/09/opinion/president-obama-thomas-l-friedman-iraq-and-world-affairs.html.
87.Friedman, “Obama on the World.” See also Benjamin Haddad and Alina Polyakova, “Don’t Rehabilitate Obama on Russia,” Brookings, March 5, 2018, https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2018/03/05/dont-rehabilitate-obama-on-russia/; Baker, new ed., Obama, 268.
88.Rhodes, The World as It Is, 340–41; O’Hanlon, “Obama the Carpenter”; Fred Kaplan, “Obama’s Way: The President in Practice,” Foreign Affairs, January/February 2016, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2015-12-07/obamas-way; Haddad and Polyakova, “Don’t Rehabilitate Obama on Russia.”
89.Ball, “The Republican Wave Sweeps the Midterm Elections”; “Republicans Rule House and Senate for First Time in 8 Years,” https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/republicans-rule-house-senate-first-time-8-years-n241126.
90.Quoted in Ball, “The Republican Wave Sweeps the Midterm Elections.”
91.Ibid.
92.“Transcript: President Obama’s Nov. 5 News Conference on Midterm Election Results,” Washington Post, November 5, 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/transcript-president-obamas-remarks-on-midterm-election-results/2014/11/05/491a02b2-6524-11e4-9fdc-d43b053ecb4d_story.html.
93.Ball, “The Republican Wave Sweeps the Midterm Elections”; “Republicans Rule House and Senate for First Time in 8 Years.”
94.Rhodes, The World as It Is,” 304.

9. A Second Recovery

1.Barack Obama, “Address to the Nation on Redressing U.S. Immigration Policy,” American Rhetoric, November 20, 2014, http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamaimmigrationnationalpolicy.htm.
2.Susan R. Coleman, “A Promise Unfulfilled, an Imperfect Legacy: Obama and Immigration Policy,” in The Presidency of Barack Obama: A First Historical Assessment, ed. Julian E. Zelizer (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018), 184–85; Serena Marshall, “Obama Has Deported More People Than Any Other President,” ABC News, August 29, 2016, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obamas-deportation-policy-numbers/story?id=41715661; Justin Salhani, “Will 44th President Be Remembered as Deporter in Chief or Dreamer?” Washington Diplomat, October 30, 2016, https://washdiplomat.com/will-44th-president-be-remembered-as-deporter-in-chief-or-dreamer/; A. J. Vicens, “The Obama Administration’s 2 Million Deportations Explained,” Mother Jones, April 4, 2014, https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/04/obama-administration-record-deportations/.
3.Coleman, “A Promised Unfulfilled, an Imperfect Legacy,” 185.
4.Obama, “Address to the Nation on Redressing U.S. Immigration.”
5.Ibid.
6.Kate M. Manuel, “The Obama Administration’s November 2014 Immigration Initiatives: Questions and Answers,” Congressional Research Service, November 24, 2014, https://fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R43798.pdf; Ian Gordon, “3 Ways Obama’s Immigration Executive Action Changes Everything (and One Way It Doesn’t),” Mother Jones, November 14, 2014, https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/11/obama-executive-action-immigration-reform/. See also Jerry Weissman, “Obama Pulls Out 5 Rhetorical Stops in Immigration Speech,” Forbes, November 21, 2014, https://www.forbes.com/sites/jerryweissman/2014/11/21/obama-pulls-out-five-rhetorical-stops/?sh=6c3eabd34791.
7.Obama, “Address to the Nation on Redressing U.S. Immigration.” For ongoing criticism of Obama’s immigration policies, including even expansion of the DACA program, by proimmigration advocates, see Marcia Zug, “The Mirage of Immigration Reform: The Devastating Consequences of Obama’s Immigration Policies,” Kansas Law Review, May 1, 2015, http://law.ku.edu/sites/law.drupal.ku.edu/files/docs/law_review/v63/7-Zug%20Final%20EIC.pdf.
8.Barack Obama, “Cuba Policy Changes Address,” American Rhetoric, December 17, 2014, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamacubapolicychanges.htm.
9.Quoted in Ben Rhodes, The World as It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House (New York: Random House, 2018), 12.
10.Rhodes, The World as It Is, 209–17; Peter Baker, “U.S. to Restore Full Relations with Cuba, Erasing a Last Trace of Cold War Hostility,” New York Times, December 17, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/18/world/americas/us-cuba-relations.html; Dan Pfeiffer, Yes We (Still) Can (New York: Hachette Book Group, 2018), 72–74.
11.Rhodes, The World as It Is, 307; Susan Rice, Tough Love: My Story of the Things Worth Fighting For (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2019), 407–10.
12.Obama, “Cuba Policy Changes Address.”
13.Ibid.
14.Baker, “U.S. to Restore Full Relations with Cuba, Erasing a Last Trace of Cold War Hostility.” See also “Obama’s Cuban Détente,” Wall Street Journal, December 14, 2014, https://www.wsj.com/articles/obamas-cuban-detente-1418862551; Igor Bobic, “GOP Opposes Diplomatic Relations with Cuba, but Not Other Human Rights Abusers,” Huffington Post, December 17, 2014, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/marco-rubio-torture-cuba_n_6343248.
15.Barack Obama, “Sixth Presidential State of the Union Address,” American Rhetoric, January 21, 2015, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/stateoftheunion2015.htm.
16.Ibid.; Pfeiffer’s remarks are in Peter Baker, “Analysis of Obama’s State of the Union Address,” New York Times, January 20, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/13/us/politics/final-state-of-the-union-address.html. See also David Nakamura, “Obama, in 2015 State of the Union, Says Crisis Has Passed and Takes Credit,” Washington Post, January 21, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/president-is-expected-to-deliver-an-assertive-state-of-the-union-speech/2015/01/20/6fef7846-a0ec-11e4-9f89-561284a573f8_story.html; Rebecca Kaplan, “Obama Declares Turning Point for the Nation in His State of the Union,” CBS News, January 20, 2015, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-declares-turning-point-for-the-nation-in-his-state-of-the-union/.
17.Obama, “Sixth Presidential State of the Union Address”; Peter Baker, “Bold Call to Action in Obama’s State of the Union Even If No Action Is Likely,” New York Times, January 20, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/21/us/politics/state-of-the-union-speech-leaves-questions-about-usefulness-of-unlikely-goals.html; Nakamura, “Obama, in 2015 State of the Union, Says Crisis Has Passed”; Kaplan, “Obama Declares Turning Point for the Nation.”
18.Baker, “Analysis of Obama’s State of the Union Address.”
19.Ibid.
20.See chapter 6, section “Foreign Policy.”
21.Rice, Tough Love, 264–69; Rhodes, The World as It Is, 248.
22.Rice, Tough Love, 411–12; Rhodes, The World as It Is, 248.
23.Rhodes, The World as It Is, 248; John Kerry, Every Day Is Extra (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2018), 487–94; Rice, Tough Love, 412.
24.Rhodes, The World as It Is, 249–50.
25.Rhodes, The World as It Is, 250–51; Kerry, Every Day Is Extra, 487–509; Rice, Tough Love, 412.
26.Barack Obama, “Statement on Historic Nuclear Agreement with Iran,” American Rhetoric, April 2, 2015, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamairannuclearagreement.htm; Peter Baker, “President Obama Calls Preliminary Iran Nuclear Deal ‘Our Best Bet,’ ” New York Times, April 5, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/06/world/middleeast/obama-strongly-defends-iran-nuclear-deal.html; Rhodes, The World as It Is, 252–53; Rice, Tough Love, 413–15.
27.Thomas L. Friedman, “Iran and the Obama Doctrine,” New York Times, April 5, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/06/opinion/thomas-friedman-the-obama-doctrine-and-iran-interview.html; “The Complete Transcript of Netanyahu’s Address to Congress,” Washington Post, March 3, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/full-text-netanyahus-address-to-congress; Krishnadev Calamur, “Netanyahu Blasts ‘A Very Bad Deal’ with Iran,” NPR, March 3, 2015, https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/03/03/390250986/netanyahu-to-outline-iran-threats-in-much-anticipated-speech-to-congress; Rice, Tough Love, 413–15. In responding to Netanyahu’s appearance before Congress, which many Democrats viewed as a political stunt by the Republican leadership on Capitol Hill, Obama pointed out that the Israeli prime minister was speaking prematurely since an agreement with Iran had yet to be concluded. He also remarked that, without an agreement, the threat against Israel and the Middle East would be far greater since it would be harder to keep the Tehran government from developing a nuclear weapon. Barack Obama, “On Ash Carter Briefing, Iran and PM Netanyahu’s Address,” American Rhetoric, March 3, 2015, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamairanpmnetanyahucongressspeech.htm. See also Bernard Avishai, “Netanyahu’s Speech,” New Yorker, March 3, 2015, https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/netanyahu-speech-congress. See also Kerry, Every Day Is Extra, 504–5 and 510.
28.Friedman, “Iran and the Obama Doctrine”; Mortimer B. Zuckerman, “Obama’s Unforgivable Betrayal: The President’s Nuclear Accommodation of Radical Islamist Theocrats Threatens Israel’s Survival,” U.S. News and World Report, April 17, 2015, https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2015/04/17/obamas-iran-nuclear-deal-is-an-unforgivable-betrayal-of-israel.
29.Friedman, “Iran and the Obama Doctrine”; Pamela Engel, “Obama Explains the ‘Doctrine’ That Underlies His Foreign Policy,” Business Insider, April 6, 2018, https://www.businessinsider.com/the-obama-doctrine-is-now-clear-2015-4. See also Baker, “President Obama Calls Preliminary Iran Nuclear Deal ‘Our Best Bet.’ ”
30.Friedman, “Iran and the Obama Doctrine.”
31.Ibid.
32.Barack Obama, “Iran Nuclear Accord Announcement,” American Rhetoric, July 14, 2015, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamairannucleardealfinal.htm; Julian Borger, “Iran Nuclear Deal: World Powers Reach Historic Agreement to Lift Sanctions,” Guardian, July 14, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/14/iran-nuclear-programme-world-powers-historic-deal-lift-sanctions. On Obama’s position on releasing $100 billion of Iranian assets, see Kerry, Every Day Is Extra, 518–20.
33.Obama, “Iran’s Nuclear Accord Announcement.”
34.Barack Obama, “Post Iran Nuclear Accord Announcement Press Conference,” American Rhetoric, July 15, 2015, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamairannuclearaccordfinalpresser.htm; Rhodes, The World as It Is, 322–25.
35.Barack Obama, “Address on Iran at American University,” American Rhetoric, August 5, 2015, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamairanamericanuniversity.htm; Rhodes, The World as It Is, 323–30; Kerry, Every Day Is Extra, 511; Lesley Clark and Jonathan S. Landay, “Obama Launches Fierce Defense of Iran Nuclear Deal,” McClatchy News, August 5, 2015, https://www.bnd.com/news/nation-world/national/article30019119.html.
36.Rhodes, The World as It Is, 330–33; Kerry, Every Day Is Extra, 513–17; Rice, Tough Love, 415–16; Carl Huse and David M. Herszenhorn, “Coordinated Strategy Brings Obama Victory on Iran Nuclear Deal,” New York Times, September 2, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/03/world/obama-clinches-vote-to-secure-iran-nuclear-deal.html.
37.Obama is quoted in Patrick Zengerle and Richard Cowan, “Senate Democrats Block Effort to Kill Iran Nuclear Deal,” Reuters, September 10, 2015, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-nuclear-congress/senate-democrats-block-effort-to-kill-iran-nuclear-deal-idUKKCN0RA20P20150911; Huse and Herszenhorn, “Coordinated Strategy Brings Obama Victory on Iran Nuclear Deal.”
38.Gideon Rose, “What Obama Gets Right: Keep Calm and Carry the Liberal Order On,” Foreign Affairs 94 (September-October 2015), https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2017-07-05/what-obama-gets-right; Ash Carter, Inside the Five-Sided Box: Lessons from a Lifetime of Leadership in the Pentagon (New York: Dutton, 2019), 281–83.
39.Jeffrey A. Bader, Obama and China’s Rise: An Insider’s Account of America’s Asia Strategy (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2012), 3–8, 23–39, 48–52, 54, 69–71, and 109; David E. Sanger, Confront and Conceal: Obama’s Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power (New York: Broadway Paperbacks, 2012), 373–75; Rice, Tough Love, 434–36; Jeremi Suri, “Liberal Internationalism, Law, and the First African American President,” in The Presidency of Barack Obama: A First Historical Assessment, ed. Julian E. Zelizer (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018), 202–3. See also Paul Starobin, “Q&A: Confront and Conceal Author David Sanger,” Columbia Journalism Review, July 2, 2012, https://archives.cjr.org/critical_eye/qa_confront_and_conceal_author.php.
40.Sanger, Confront and Conceal, 263–64, 370, 389; J. Bader, Obama and China’s Rise, 79–93; James Clapper, Facts and Fears: Hard Truths from a Life in Intelligence (New York: Viking, 2018).
41.Hillary Clinton, Hard Choices (New York: Simon and Schuster Paperbacks, 2014), 65–70; Sanger, Confront and Conceal, 412–13; Rice, Tough Love, 242–43 and 436–41. On Clinton’s confrontational relationship with China up to 2010, see also Bader, Obama and China’s Rise, 96–108, 112–29, and 140–44.
42.Obama’s quotes can be found in Clinton, Hard Choices, 69; and Barack Obama, “Trans-Pacific Trade Pact Address at Nike Headquarters,” American Rhetoric, May 8, 2015, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamatradenike.htm.
43.Clinton, Hard Choices, 70–71; Rhodes, The World as It Is, 164–65; Jeffrey J. Schott, “Overview: Understanding the Trans-Pacific Partnership,” Peterson Institute for International Economics, n.d., piie.com/bookstore/understanding-trans-pacific-partnership; Carter, Inside the Five-Sided Box, 285. See also John Kerry, “Speech on Trans-Pacific Trade Pact,” American Rhetoric, May 19, 2015, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/johnkerrytranspacifictradepactboeing.htm.
44.“Remarks by President Barack Obama in Meeting with Trans-Pacific Partnership,” Office of the United States Trade Representative, November 12, 2011, https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/speeches/transcripts/2010/november/remarks-president-barack-obama-meeting-tran; Rhodes, The World as It Is, 165–66.
45.Jackie Calmes, “Obama and Asian Leaders Confront China’s Premier,” New York Times, November 19, 2011, https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/world/asia/wen-jiabao-chinese-leader-shows-flexibility-after-meeting-obama.html; “Obama Meets with Asian Leaders,” Voice of America, November 17, 2011, https://www.voanews.com/east-asia/obama-meets-asian-leaders; “Obama, Wen Meet on Sidelines of Bali Summit,” Reuters, November 18, 2011, https://cn.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-obama/obama-wen-meet-on-sidelines-of-bali-summit-idUSTRE7AI05Q20111119.
46.“Remarks by President Obama at the University of Yangon,” Office of the Press Secretary, The White House, November 19, 2012, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2012/11/19/remarks-president-obama-university-yangon; Rhodes, The World as It Is, 164–65.
47.Jane Perlez, “Cancellation of Trip by Obama Plays to Doubts of Asia Allies,” New York Times, October 4, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/05/world/asia/with-obama-stuck-in-washington-china-leader-has-clear-path-at-asia-conferences.html.
48.Ibid.; “Handover of U.S. Command of South Korean Troops Still under Debate,” Washington Post, September 29, 2013, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/handover-of-us-command-of-south-korean-troops-still-under-debate/2013/09/29/25a73374-28fb-11e3-83fa-b82b8431dc92_story.html.
49.“Tpp: What Is It and Why Does It Matter?” BBC, January 23, 2017, https://www.bbc.com/news/business-32498715; Deborah Gleeson, Joel Lexchin, Ruth Lopert, and Burcu Kilic, “The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement, Intellectual Property and Medicines: Differential Outcomes for Developed and Developing Countries,” Sage Publications, October 13, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1177/1468018117734153; “Reconsidering the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Impact on Intellectual Property,” Baker McKenzie, April 22, 2018, lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=f9ba8dbe-44c4-4a61-9145-a6463e04db58; “Analysis of August 2015 Leaked TPP Text on Copyright, ISP and General Provisions,” ARL Policy Notes (blog), Association of Research Libraries, August 2015, https://policynotes.arl.org/?m=201508.
50.Obama is quoted in Adam Behsudi, “Obama Puts Congress on Notice: TPP Is Coming,” Politico, August 12, 2016, https://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/obama-congress-trade-warning-226952. See also Gail Ablow, “Why Is Obama Pushing the TPP?” Bill Moyers, September 1, 2016, https://billmoyers.com/story/obamas-push-tpp/; Jeffrey Rothfeder, “Why Obama Is Still Trying to Pass the T.P.P.,” New Yorker, September 18, 2016, https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/why-obama-is-still-trying-to-pass-the-t-p-p; Alan Wolff, “Obama Still Has a Shot at Passing the TPP,” Fortune, August 17, 2016, https://fortune.com/2016/08/17/obama-tpp-congress-lame-duck-trade/.
51.Behsudi, “Obama Puts Congress on Notice”; “Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement: What Was the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP)?” Electronic Frontier Foundation, n.d., https://www.eff.org/issues/tpp.
52.Carter, Inside the Five-Sided Box, 280–81.
53.“The President’s Climate Action Plan,” Executive Office of the President, June 2013, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/image/president27sclimateactionplan.pdf; H. Josef Hebert, “Congress Begins Tackling Climate Issues,” CBS Evening News, January 29, 2007, web page no longer available; “A Historic Commitment to Protecting the Environment and Addressing the Impacts of Climate Change,” White House Archives, n.d., https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-record/climate; Meg Jacobs, “Obama’s Fight against Global Warming,” in The Presidency of Barack Obama: A First Historical Assessment, ed. Julian E. Zelizer (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018), 62–65; Clinton, Hard Choices, 417–18.
54.Clinton, Hard Choices, 419–21.
55.Ibid., 421–22; Kerry, Every Day Is Extra, 560; Scott Kaufman, The Environment and International History (New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018), 147.
56.Darren Samuelsohn, “Obama Negotiates ‘Copenhagen Accord’ with Senate Climate Fight in Mind,” New York Times, December 21, 2009, https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/12/21/21climatewire-obama-negotiates-copenhagen-accord-with-senat-6121.html; Lisa Lerer, “Obama’s Dramatic Climate Meet,” Politico, December 18, 2009, https://www.politico.com/story/2009/12/obamas-dramatic-climate-meet-030801; “Barack Obama’s Speech Disappoints and Fuels Frustration at Copenhagen,” Guardian, December 18, 2009, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/dec/18/obama-speech-copenhagen; Jacobs, “Obama’s Fight against Global Warming,” 66–69; Kerry, Every Day Is Extra, 363.
57.Jacobs, “Obama’s Fight against Global Warming,” 64–66.
58.Ibid., 67–69; Kerry, Every Day Is Extra, 363–66. On the BP oil spill see also Barack Obama, “Remarks and Press Conference on the Gulf Oil Spill Disaster,” American Rhetoric, May 27, 2010, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamagulfoilspillpresser.htm; Barack Obama, “Grand Isle Briefing on the Gulf Oil Spill Disaster,” American Rhetoric, May 28, 2010, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamagrandeisleoilspillbriefing.htm; Andrew Clark, “BP Will ‘Pay Every Dime Owed’ for Gulf Oil Spill, Obama Warns,” Guardian, May 27, 2010, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/may/27/gulf-oil-spill-bp-obama; John M. Broder, “Report Slams Administration for Underestimating Gulf Spill,” New York Times, October 6, 2010, https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/science/earth/07spill.html.
59.Barack Obama, “Oval Office Address to the Nation on BP Oil Spill Disaster,” American Rhetoric, June 15, 2010, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamabpoilspillovaloffice.htm.
60.Michael D’Antonio, A Consequential President: The Legacy of Barack Obama (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2016), 104–31; Jacobs, “Obama’s Fight against Global Warming,” 70–71.
61.“Statement by the President on the Keystone XL Pipeline,” Office of the Press Secretary, The White House, January 18, 2012, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2012/01/18/statement-president-keystone-xl-pipeline; Suzanne Goldenberg, “Keystone XL Oil Pipeline,” Guardian, January 31, 2014, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jan/31/keystone-xl-oil-pipeline-everything-you-need-to-know; Juliet Eilperin and Steven Mufson, “Obama Administration Rejects Keystone XL Pipeline,” Washington Post, January 18, 2012, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/obama-administration-to-reject-keystone-pipeline/2012/01/18/gIQAPuPF8P_story.html.
62.Barack Obama, “Second Presidential Inaugural Address,” American Rhetoric, January 21, 2013, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamasecondinauguraladdress.htm; Barack Obama, “Fourth Presidential State of the Union Address,” American Rhetoric, February 12, 2013, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/stateoftheunion2013.htm.
63.“The President’s Climate Action Plan”; Clinton, Hard Choices, 422–23.
64.Brad Plumer, “The Keystone XL Pipeline Is Dead. Here’s Why Obama Rejected It,” Vox, November 7, 2015, https://www.vox.com/2015/11/6/9681340/obama-rejects-keystone-pipeline; Coral Davenport, “Nations Approve Landmark Climate Accord in Paris,” New York Times, December 12, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/13/world/europe/climate-change-accord-paris.html; Suzanne Goldenberg, John Vidal, Lenore Taylor, Adam Vaughan, and Fiona Harvey, “Paris Climate Deal: Nearly 200 Nations Sign In End of Fossil Fuel Era,” Guardian, December 12, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/12/paris-climate-deal-200-nations-sign-finish-fossil-fuel-era.
65.“Paris Agreement,” United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, December 12, 2015, https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement; “The Paris Agreement Summary,” Climate Focus, December 28, 2015, https://www.climatefocus.com/sites/default/files/20151228%20COP%2021%20briefing%20FIN.pdf.
66.Kerry, Every Day Is Extra, 561; Tim Boersma, “U.S.-China Joint Announcement on Climate Change Is a Big Deal,” Brookings, November 13, 2014, https://www.brookings.edu/blog/planetpolicy/2014/11/13/u-s-china-joint-announcement-on-climate-change-is-a-big-deal/; Davenport, “Nations Approve Landmark Climate Accord in Paris.”
67.Kerry, Every Day Is Extra, 564.
68.“U.S.-China Joint Announcement on Climate Change,” Office of the Press Secretary, The White House, November 11, 2014, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/11/11/us-china-joint-announcement-climate-change. See also “Remarks by President Obama and President Xi Jinping in Joint Press Conference,” Office of the Press Secretary, The White House, November 11, 2014, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/11/12/remarks-president-obama-and-president-xi-jinping-joint-press-conference; Mark Lander, “Fruitful Visit by Obama Ends with a Lecture from Xi,” New York Times, November 12, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/13/world/asia/china-us-xi-jinping-obama-apec.html; “Fact Sheet: Advancing the Rebalance to Asia and the Pacific,” Office of the Press Secretary, The White House, November 16, 2015, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/11/16/fact-sheet-advancing-rebalance-asia-and-pacific.
69.Coral Davenport, “Obama’s Strategy on Climate Change, Part of Global Deal, Is Revealed,” New York Times, March 31, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/01/us/obama-to-offer-major-blueprint-on-climate-change.html.
70.The quotes are from Davenport, “Nations Approve Landmark Climate Accord in Paris.” See also “Statement by the President on the Paris Climate Agreement,” Office of the Press Secretary, The White House, December 12, 2015, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/12/12/statement-president-paris-climate-agreement; Martin Pengelly, “Obama Praises Paris Climate Deal as ‘Tribute to American Leadership,’ ” Guardian, December 12, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/12/obama-speech-paris-climate-change-talks-deal-american-leadership. See also Tanya Somanader, “President Obama: The United States Formally Enters the Paris Agreement,” Office of the Press Secretary, The White House, September 3, 2016, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2016/09/03/president-Obama-United-states-formally-enters-Paris-agreement.
71.Somanader, “The United States Formally Enters the Paris Agreement.” See also, “Remarks by the President on the Paris Agreement,” Office of the Press Secretary, The White House, October 5, 2016, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/10/05/remarks-president-paris-agreement#:~:text=THE%20PRESIDENT%3A%20Good%20afternoon%2C%20everybody,on%20a%20low%2Dcarbon%20course.
72.Jacobs, “Obama’s Fight against Global Warming,” 74–75.
73.Ibid., 76–77.
74.Greg Botelho, “What Happened the Night Trayvon Martin Died,” CNN, May 23, 2012, https://www.cnn.com/2012/05/18/justice/florida-teen-shooting-details/index.html; Michael Eric Dyson, The Black Presidency: Barack Obama and the Politics of Race in America (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016), 186–87.
75.Botelho, “What Happened the Night Trayvon Martin Died”; Lizette Alvarez and Cara Buckley, “Zimmerman Is Acquitted in Trayvon Martin Killing,” New York Times, July 13, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/14/us/george-zimmerman-verdict-trayvon-martin.html.
76.Monica Potts, “Barack Obama, Trayvon Martin, and the Presidency,” Vogue, December 22, 2016, https://www.vogue.com/article/barack-obama-trayvon-martin-presidency; Jeff Mason and Daniel Trotta, “Obama Gets Personal over Killing of Black Florida Teenager,” Reuters, March 23, 2012, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-florida-shooting-obama/obama-gets-personal-over-killing-of-black-florida-teenager-idUSBRE82M0QF20120323.
77.As quoted in Jackie Calmes and Helene Cooper, “A Personal Note as Obama Speaks on Death of Boy,” New York Times, March 23, 2012, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/24/us/politics/obama-talks-of-tragedy-not-race-in-florida-killing.html.
78.As quoted in Calmes and Cooper, “A Personal Note as Obama Speaks on Death of Boy”; Mason and Trotta, “Obama Gets Personal over Killing of Black Florida Teenager”; Star Parker, “Racial Divide Worse under Obama,” Washington Examiner, November 3, 2012, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/racial-divide-worse-under-obama; “Remarks by the President on Trayvon Martin,” Office of the Press Secretary, The White House, July 19, 2013, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/07/19/remarks-president-trayvon-martin.
79.“Remarks by the President on Trayvon Martin.”
80.Ibid. See also Ta-Nahisi Coates, We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy (New York: One World, 2017), 309–29 and 354–55; Peter Wallstein, “Obama Struggles to Balance African Americans’ Hopes with Country’s as a Whole,” Washington Post, October 28, 2012, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/decision2012/obama-after-making-history-has-faced-a-high-wire-on-racial-issues/2012/10/28/d8e25ff4-1939-11e2-bd10-5ff056538b7c_story.html.
81.Ann Althouse, “Why Obama Won’t Give the Ferguson Speech His Supporters Want,” AltHouse (blog), August 19, 2014, https://althouse.blogspot.com/2014/08/why-obama-wont-give-ferguson-speech-his.html.
82.Eliott C. McGlaughlin, “What We Know about Michael Brown’s Shooting,” CNN, August 15, 2014, https://www.cnn.com/2014/08/11/us/missouri-ferguson-michael-brown-what-we-know/index.html.
83.David Hudson, “President Obama Issues a Statement on the Death of Michael Brown,” Office of the Press Secretary, The White House, August 12, 2014, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2014/08/12/president-obama-issues-statement-death-michael-brown; Heather MacDonald, “Obama’s Assault on the Police,” Commentary, March 2016, https://www.commentary.org/articles/heather-macdonald/obamas-assault-police/.
84.Hudson, “President Obama Issues a Statement on the Death of Michael Brown.”
85.Erik Eckholm and Matt Apuzzo, “Darren Wilson Is Cleared of Rights Violations in Ferguson Shooting, New York Times, March 4, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/05/us/darren-wilson-is-cleared-of-rights-violations-in-ferguson-shooting.html.
86.“Transcript: Obama’s Remarks on Ferguson Grand Jury Decision,” Washington Post, November 24, 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/transcript-obamas-remarks-on-ferguson-grand-jury-decision/2014/11/24/afc3b38e-744f-11e4-bd1b-03009bd3e984_story.html; Matthew Larotonda and Chris Good, “Obama Says ‘We May Never Know What Happened’ in Ferguson, but Defends DOJ,” ABC News, March 6, 2015, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obama-happened-ferguson-defends-doj/story?id=29441456; David Nather, “Obama on Ferguson: ‘They Weren’t Just Making It Up,’ ” Politico, March 6, 2015, https://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/obama-ferguson-reaction-doj-115839.
87.“Transcript: Obama’s Remarks on Ferguson Grand Jury Decision”; Althouse, “Why Obama Won’t Give the Ferguson Speech His Supporters Want”; Mychal Denzel Smith, “How President Obama Failed Black Lives,” Washington Post, July 21, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/07/21/how-president-obama-failed-black-lives-matter/; Jonathan Chait, “Obama, Ferguson, and the Torments of Liberalism,” Intelligencer, November 25, 2014, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2014/11/obama-ferguson-and-the-torments-of-liberalism.html; Larotonda and Good, “Obama Says ‘We May Never Know What Happened’ in Ferguson”; Nather, “Obama on Ferguson.”
88.Alan Rappeport, “Democratic Speechwriters See Obama’s Selma Address as ‘Among His Very Best,’ ” New York Times, March 9, 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/03/09/obamas-selma-speech-considered-among-his-very-best; “Obama’s Selma Speech Ranks among Best,” Herald, March 7, 2015, https://www.heraldonline.com/opinion/editorials/article13984940.html; Matt Ford, “Why President Obama’s Speech Matters,” Atlantic, March 7, 2015, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/03/obama-at-selma-ferguson-exceptionalism/387169/.
89.Barack Obama, “Address on the 50th Anniversary of the Selma, Alabama, March,” American Rhetoric, March 7, 2015, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamaselma50anniversarymarch.htm.
90.Ibid.
91.Ibid; Adam Liptak, “Supreme Court Invalidates Key Part of Voting Rights Act,” New York Times, June 25, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/26/us/supreme-court-ruling.html; Stephen Dinan, “Supreme Court Says Voting Rights Act of 1965 Is No Longer Relevant,” Washington Times, June 25, 2013, https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jun/25/court-past-voting-discrimination-no-longer-held/.
92.Barbara Reynolds, “I Was a Civil Rights Activist in the 1960s. But It’s Hard for Me to Get Behind Black Lives Matter,” Washington Post, August 24, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/08/24/i-was-a-civil-rights-activist-in-the-1960s-but-its-hard-for-me-to-get-behind-black-lives-matter/; Shannon Luibrand, “How a Death in Ferguson Sparked a Movement in America,” CBS News, August 7, 2015, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-the-black-lives-matter-movement-changed-america-one-year-later/; Janell Ross, “How Black Lives Matter Moved from a Hashtag to a Real Political Force,” Washington Post, August 19, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/08/19/how-black-lives-matter-moved-from-a-hashtag-to-a-real-political-force/.
93.Patrisse Cullors, “Obama Says Black Lives Matter. But He Doesn’t Ensure They Do,” Guardian, July 16, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/16/obama-black-lives-matter-doesnt-ensure-they-do. See also Dyson, The Black Presidency, 193–99; Peniel E. Joseph, “Barack Obama and the Movement for Black Lives: Race, Democracy, and Criminal Justice in the Age of Ferguson,” in The Presidency of Barack Obama: A First Historical Assessment, ed. Julian E. Zelizer (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018), 137–38; Maya Rhodan, “President Obama Defends Stance on Police, Black Lives Matter,” Time Magazine, July 14, 2016, https://time.com/4407362/president-obama-police-black-lives-matter-town-hall/.
94.Motoko Rich, “Obama to Report Widening of Initiative for Black and Latino Boys,” New York Times, July 20, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/21/education/obamas-my-brothers-keeper-education-program-expands.html.
95.“Remarks by the President on ‘My Brother’s Keeper’ Initiative,” Office of the Press Secretary, The White House, February 27, 2014, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/02/27/remarks-president-my-brothers-keeper-initiative. See also “Jonathan Capehart on His Interview with President Obama: ‘He Has Hope for This Country,’ ” https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/watch/jonathan-capehart-on-his-interview-with-president-obama-he-has-hope-for-this-country-96328773767.
96.“Remarks by the President on ‘My Brother’s Keeper’ Initiative.”
97.Ibid.; Barack Obama, A Promised Land (New York: Crown, 2020), xiv.
98.Matt Ford and Adam Chandler, “ ‘Hate Crime’: A Mass Killing at a Historic Church,” Atlantic, June 2015, https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2015/06/shooting-emanuel-ame-charleston/396209/. Debbie Elliott, “How a Shooting Changed Charleston’s Oldest Black Church,” NPR, June 8, 2016, https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2016/06/08/481149042/how-a-shooting-changed-charlestons-oldest-black-church; Jason Horowitz, Nick Corasaniti, and Ashley Southall, “Nine Killed in Shooting at Black Church in Charleston,” New York Times, June 17, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/18/us/church-attacked-in-charleston-south-carolina.html.
99.Elliott, “How a Shooting Changed Charleston’s Oldest Black Church”; Horowtiz, Corasaniti, and Southall, “Nine Killed in Shooting at Black Church in Charleston.”
100.“Full Text: Obama’s Remarks on Fatal Shooting in Charleston, S.C.,” Washington Post, June 18, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/06/18/full-text-obamas-remarks-on-fatal-shooting-in-charleston-s-c/.
101.“Remarks by the President on the Supreme Court Decision on Marriage Equality,” Office of the Press Secretary, The White House, June 26, 2015, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/06/26/remarks-president-supreme-court-decision-marriage-equality; Ed Pilkington, “Obama Gives Searing Speech on Race in Eulogy for Charleston Pastor,” Guardian, June 26, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/26/obama-charleston-eulogy-pinckney-amazing-grace; Valerie Jarrett, Finding My Voice: My Journey to the West Wing and the Path Forward (New York: Viking, 2019), 273–74.
102.“Full Text: Obama’s Remarks on Fatal Shooting in Charleston, S.C.”
103.Ibid.; Adam Chandler, “A Eulogy in Charleston: President Obama Traveled to South Carolina to Speak at Clementa Pinckney’s Funeral,” Atlantic, June 26, 2015, https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2015/06/a-eulogy-in-charleston/396998/.
104.“Full Text: Obama’s Remarks on Fatal Shooting in Charleston, S.C.”
105.Ibid.; Peter Manseau, “Obama’s Graceful Pause in Charleston,” Atlantic, June 30, 2015, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/obamas-graceful-pause-in-charleston/397223/; Jordan Phelps, “The Story behind President Obama Singing ‘Amazing Grace’ at Charleston Funeral,” ABC News, July 7, 2015, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story-president-obama-singing-amazing-grace-charleston-funeral/story?id=32264346.
106.The quotes are from Pilkington, “Obama Gives Searing Speech on Race in Eulogy for Charleston Pastor”; Clarissa-Jan Lim, “This Was the Most Moving Moment of Obama’s Presidency, According to George Clooney,” APlus, January 11, 2017, https://staging.aplus.com/a/george-clooney-obama-amazing-grace?no_monetization=true; Michiko Kakutani, “Obama’s Eulogy, Which Found Its Place in History,” New York Times, July 3, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/04/arts/obamas-eulogy-which-found-its-place-in-history.html; Phelps, “The Story behind President Obama Singing ‘Amazing Grace’ at Charleston Funeral”; Jarrett, Finding My Voice, 274–75.
107.Carol E. Lee and Colleen McCain Nelson, “Obama Has a Good Week,” Wall Street Journal, June 25, 2015, https://www.wsj.com/articles/obama-has-a-good-week-1435253458.
108.Chris Cillizza, “This Was the Best Week of Obama’s Presidency,” Washington Post, June 26, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/06/26/this-was-the-best-week-of-obamas-presidency/; “Face the Nation Transcript June 28, 2015: Gowdy, Ryan, Cummings,” CBS News, June 28, 2015, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/face-the-nation-transcript-june-28-2015; Hal Boedeker, “Barack Obama: Race Central to Legacy,” Orlando Sentinel, June 30, 2015, https://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/tv-guy/os-barack-obama-race-central-to-legacy-20150630-post.html.

10. The Shock of Donald J. Trump’s Election

1.Barack Obama, “Final Presidential State of the Union Address,” American Rhetoric, January 12, 2016, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/stateoftheunion2016.htm; Favreau’s quote is in Peter Baker, “State of the Union Speech Is One Half of Nation’s Political Split Screen,” New York Times, January 12, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/13/us/politics/final-state-of-the-union-address.html; Peter Baker, “In the Final State of the Union Address, Obama Aims to Set Tone for ’16 Campaign,” New York Times, January 10, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/11/us/politics/obama-last-state-of-the-union.html; Liz Scheltens, Carlos Waters, and Sarah Turbin, “Obama’s 2016 State of the Union, in 4 Minutes,” Vox, January 13, 2016, https://www.vox.com/2016/1/13/10759146/obama-2016-state-of-the-union-video.
2.Barack Obama, “Final Presidential State of the Union Address.”
3.Psaki is quoted in Baker, “In the Final State of the Union Address.”
4.Ben Rhodes, The World as It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House (New York: Random House, 2018), 123–24. See also Susan Rice, Tough Love: My Story of the Things Worth Fighting For (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2019), 453; Dan Pfeiffer, Yes We (Still) Can: Politics in the Age of Obama, Twitter, and Trump (New York: Twelve, 2018), 113–26; Lymari Morales, “Obama’s Birth Certificate Convinces Some, but Not All, Skeptics,” Gallup, May 13, 2011, https://news.gallup.com/poll/147530/obama-birth-certificate-convinces-not-skeptics.aspx; Barack Obama, “Final Presidential State of the Union Address”; Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Michael D. Shear, “Obama Confronts Americans’ Fears in State of the Union Speech,” New York Times, January 12, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/13/us/politics/obama-state-of-the-union.html.
5.Barack Obama, “Final Presidential State of the Union Address”; Davis and Shear, “Obama Confronts Americans’ Fears in State of the Union Speech.”
6.“6th Republican Debate Transcript, Annotated: Who Said What,” Washington Post, January 14, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/01/14/6th-republican-debate-transcript-annotated-who-said-what-and-what-it-meant/; Eric Bradner, “6 Takeaways from the Republican Presidential Debate,” CNN Politics, January 15, 2016, https://www.cnn.com/2016/01/15/politics/republican-debate-2016-recap/index.html; Paoli Chavez, “Best Lines of the First Republican Debate of 2016,” ABC News, January 14, 2016, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/best-lines-republican-debate/story?id=36296985; Lela Moore, “Readers React to Obama’s Final State of the Union Address,” New York Times, January 13, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/14/us/readers-react-to-obamas-final-state-of-the-union-address.html?.?mc=aud_dev&ad-keywords=auddevgate&gclid=CjwKCAjw55-HBhAHEiwARMCszlP1OwhY2aprSQIMtnsGhCl2dIP-gT0jVNp99wEqN9l3KVQ_vwpoJhoCCdgQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds.
7.Helene Cooper and David E. Sanger, “Iran Seizes U.S. Sailors amid Claims of Spying,” New York Times, January 12, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/13/world/middleeast/iran-holds-us-navy-boats-crew.html; Michael S. Schmidt, “9 in Navy Disciplined over Iran’s Capture of Sailors,” New York Times, June 30, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/01/world/middleeast/us-navy-iran.html; Meghann Myers, “Navy Punishes Four Sailors Who Were Detained by Iran,” Navy Times, July 14, 2016, https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2016/07/15/navy-punishes-four-sailors-who-were-detained-by-iran/.
8.Quoted in Andrew Glass, “President Obama Visits Havana,” Politico, March 20, 2019, https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/20/obama-havana-cuba-1224370. See also Carmen Sesin, John Brecher, and Sandra Lilley, “In Cuba and U.S., Expectations Are Mixed on Obama’s Historic Trip,” NBC News, March 20, 2016, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/cuba-u-s-expectations-are-mixed-obama-s-historic-trip-n541986; Rhodes, The World as It Is, 352–54.
9.Barack Obama, “Joint Press Conference with Raul Castro,” American Rhetoric, March 21, 2016, https://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamaraulcastropresser.htm; Barack Obama, “Address to the Entrepreneurs of Cuba,” American Rhetoric, March 21, 2016, https://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamacubaentrepreneurs.htm; Barack Obama, “Address to the People of Cuba,” American Rhetoric, March 22, 2016, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamacubapeoplespeech.htm; Frances Robles, “Cuban Dissidents Praise ‘Closeness and Trust’ after Meeting with Obama,” New York Times, March 22, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/23/world/americas/cuban-dissidents-meeting-with-obama.html; Rhodes, The World as It Is, 354–55.
10.Barack Obama, “Joint Press Conference with Raul Castro.”
11.Ibid.
12.Ibid.
13.Ibid.; Rhodes, The World as It Is, 356–59.
14.Barack Obama, “Address to the People of Cuba”; Tom Gjeltin, “Obama Praises and Challenges Cubans in Speech in Havana,” NPR, March 22, 2016, https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/03/22/471515401/obama-praises-and-challenges-cubans-in-speech-in-havana.
15.Barack Obama, “Address to the People of Cuba”; Gjeltin, “Obama Praises and Challenges Cubans in Speech in Havana.”
16.Jon Lee Anderson, “Cuba after Obama Left,” New Yorker, April 1, 2016, https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/cuba-after-obama-left; see also Lizette Alvarez, “Reaction to Obama Trip Reflects Change in Cuban-Ameri cans,” New York Times, March 21, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/22/world/americas/reaction-to-obama-trip-reflects-change-in-cuban-americans.html; Dan Roberts, “Obama Lands in Cuba as First US President to Visit in Nearly a Century,” Guardian, March 21, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/20/barack-obama-cuba-visit-us-politics-shift-public-opinion-diplomacy.
17.Alvarez, “Reaction to Obama Trip Reflects Change in Cuban-Americans”; Robles, “Cuban Dissidents Praise ‘Closeness and Trust’ after Meeting with Obama.”
18.Pfeiffer, Yes We (Still) Can, 192–93; Jonathan Rauch, “How American Politics Went Insane,” Atlantic, June-July, 2016, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/07/how-american-politics-went-insane/485570/; Jonathan Chait, “Why American Politics Really Went Insane,” New York Magazine, June 22, 2016, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2016/06/why-american-politics-really-went-insane.html.
19.Rishi Iyengar, “What to Know about President Obama’s Visit to Vietnam and Japan,” Time Magazine, May 23, 2016, https://time.com/4344515/obama-asia-trip-vietnam-japan-embargo-hiroshima/; Gardiner Harris, “Obama in Vietnam Will Focus on Future, Rather Than the Past,” New York Times, May 15, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/16/us/politics/obama-in-vietnam-will-focus-on-future-rather-than-the-past.html; Gardiner Harris, “Arriving in Vietnam, Obama Aims to Lure It Away from China,” New York Times, May 22, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/23/world/asia/vietnam-obama-china.html; Kristin Donnelly, “President Obama Arrives in Vietnam for Historic Asia Trip,” NBC News, May 22, 2016, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/president-obama-arrives-vietnam-historic-asia-trip-n578251; David Brown, “Obama in Hanoi: The United States and Vietnam Move Closer Together,” Foreign Affairs, May 17, 2016, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/vietnam/2016-05-17/obama-hanoi.
20.Leigh Ann Caldwell, “Benghazi: A Timeline,” NBC News, October 22, 2015, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/benghazi-timeline-n448776; David M. Herszenhorn, “House Benghazi Report Finds No New Evidence of Wrongdoing by Hillary Clinton,” New York Times, June 28, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/29/us/politics/hillary-clinton-benghazi.html; David Samuels, “The Aspiring Novelist Who Became Obama’s Foreign-Policy Guru,” New York Times Magazine, May 5, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/magazine/the-aspiring-novelist-who-became-obamas-foreign-policy-guru.html; Carlos Lozada, “Why the Ben Rhodes Profile in the New York Times Magazine Is Just Gross,” Washington Post, May 6, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/book-party/wp/2016/05/06/why-the-ben-rhodes-profile-in-the-new-york-times-magazine-is-just-gross/; Natasha Bertrand, “Obama’s ‘Foreign-Policy Guru’ Gave a Shockingly Blunt Interview to the New York Times,” Yahoo, May 6, 2016, https://finance.yahoo.com/news/obamas-foreign-policy-guru-gave-154200198.html; David Samuels, “Through the Looking Glass with Ben Rhodes,” New York Times, May 13, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/12/magazine/through-the-looking-glass-with-ben-rhodes.html.
21.Rhodes, The World as It Is, 372.
22.Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (New York: HarperCollins, 2015); Rhodes, The World as It Is, 372.
23.Rhodes, The World as It Is, 374–75.
24.Harris, “Arriving in Vietnam, Obama Aims to Lure It Away from China”; Jane Perlez, “Obama’s Vietnam Trip Follows Controlled Parliamentary Elections,” New York Times, May 20, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/21/world/asia/obama-vietnam-general-assembly.html; Barack Obama, “Address in Vietnam on Entrepreneurship and Business Development,” American Rhetoric, May 24, 2016, https://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamavietnambusinessdevelopment.htm.
25.Barack Obama, “Address in Vietnam on Entrepreneurship and Business Development.”
26.Gardiner Harris, “Vietnam Arms Embargo to Be Fully Lifted, Obama Says in Hanoi,” New York Times, May 23, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/24/world/asia/vietnam-us-arms-embargo-obama.html; Agence France-Presse, “Barack Obama in Vietnam as US Seeks to Turn Former Enemy into Major Trade Market,” Guardian, May 22, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/23/barack-obama-in-vietnam-as-us-seeks-to-turn-former-enemy-into-major-trade-market.
27.Harris, “Vietnam Arms Embargo to Be Fully Lifted, Obama Says”; Matt Spetalnick and Martin Petty, “Obama Prods Vietnam on Rights after Activists Stopped from Meeting Him,” Reuters, May 23, 2016, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-vietnam-obama/obama-prods-vietnam-on-rights-after-activists-stopped-from-meeting-him-idUSKCN0YE2RX; “Remarks Following a Meeting with Civil Society Leaders in Hanoi, Vietnam,” The American Presidency Project, May 24, 2016, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-following-meeting-with-civil-society-leaders-hanoi-vietnam; “On Human Rights, Obama Finds Vietnam a Work in Progress,” Chicago Tribune, May 24, 2016, https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-obama-vietnam-20160524-story.html.
28.Barack Obama, “Press Conference with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe,” American Rhetoric, May 25, 2016, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamashinzoabepresser.htm.
29.Elise Labott, “Here’s Why Obama Decided to Go to Hiroshima,” CNN, May 26, 2016, https://www.cnn.com/2016/05/26/politics/hiroshima-obama-visit-why-he-made-the-decision/index.html.
30.Justin McCurry, David Smith, and Alan Yuhas, “Obama Visit to Hiroshima Should Not Be Viewed as an Apology, White House Says,” Guardian, May 10, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/10/obama-hiroshima-japan-visit-second-world-war; David Nakamura, “Obama to Make Historic Visit to Hiroshima,” Washington Post, May 10, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/05/10/obama-to-make-historic-visit-to-hiroshima/.
31.Nakamura, “Obama to Make Historic Visit to Hiroshima”; McCurry, Smith, and Yuhas, “Obama Visit to Hiroshima Should Not Be Viewed as an Apology, White House Says.”
32.Barack Obama, “Address at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial,” American Rhetoric, May 27, 2016, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamahiroshimaspeech.htm; Elise Hu and Camila Domonoske, “Obama Makes Historic Visit to Hiroshima Memorial Peace Park,” NPR, May 27, 2016, https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/05/27/479691439/president-obama-arrives.
33.Barack Obama, “Address at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial”; Gardiner Harris, “At Hiroshima Memorial, Obama Says Nuclear Arms Require ‘Moral Revolution,’ ” New York Times, May 27, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/28/world/asia/obama-hiroshima-japan.html; Daniel Sneider, “President Obama’s Hiroshima Speech: An Assessment,” Nippon News, August 5, 2016, https://www.nippon.com/en/currents/d00233/; David Smith, “ ‘Start of Moral Awakening’: Obama’s Historic Hiroshima Visit Bittersweet,” Guardian, May 27, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/27/barack-obama-japan-hiroshima-reaction; Hu and Domonoske, “Obama Makes Historic Visit to Hiroshima Memorial Peace Park.”
34.On these points, see especially Sneider, “President Obama’s Hiroshima Speech.” But see also David French, “The Hiroshima Bombing Was Right and Necessary,” National Review, May 27, 2016, https://www.nationalreview.com/2016/05/barack-obama-hiroshima-speech-was-wrong; Drew Richard, “Why Obama Is Shinzo Abe’s Enabler,” New York Times, May 31, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/01/opinion/why-obama-is-shinzo-abes-enabler.html; Smith, “ ‘Start of Moral Awakening.’ ”
35.Quoted in Smith, “ ‘Start of Moral Awakening.’ ” See also Sneider, “President Obama’s Hiroshima Speech.”
36.Lizette Alvarez and Richard Pérez-Peña, “Orlando Gunman Attacks Gay Nightclub, Leaving 50 Dead,” New York Times, June 12, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/13/us/orlando-nightclub-shooting.html; Ralph Ellis, Ashley Frantz, Faith Karimi, and Eliott C. McLaughlin, “Orlando Shooting: 49 Killed, Shooter Pledged ISIS Allegiance,” CNN, June 13, 2016, https://www.cnn.com/2016/06/12/us/orlando-nightclub-shooting/index.html.
37.Barack Obama, “Statement on the Orlando, Florida, Shootings,” American Rhetoric, June 12, 2016, https://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamaorlandoshootings.htm.
38.“President Obama’s Remarks on ‘Radical Islam’ after Orlando Shooting,’ ” Washington Post, June 14, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/06/14/president-obamas; Jenna Johnson, “Donald Trump Seems to Connect President Obama to Orlando Shooting,” Washington Post, June 13, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/06/13/donald-trump-suggests-president-obama-was-involved-with-orlando-shooting/.
39.“President Obama’s Remarks on ‘Radical Islam.’ ”
40.Barack Obama, “Address to the Community of Orlando, Florida, after Meeting Privately with Families of the Victims,” American Rhetoric, July 16, 2016, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamaorlandocommunitystmt.htm.
41.Ibid.
42.“Obama’s Speech: Read the Full Text,” USA Today, September 10, 2014, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/09/10/obama-speech-full-text/15415287/; Mark Landler, “Obama, in Speech on ISIS, Promises Sustained Effort to Rout Militants,” New York Times, September 10, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/world/middleeast/obama-speech-isis.html; “Obama Announces Expanded Air Strikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria—Speech Live Updates,” Guardian, September 10, 2014, https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2014/sep/10/obama-speech-strategy-destroy-isis-iraq-syria.
43.Obama’s remarks can be found in John Parkinson and Erin Dooley, “President Obama Says ‘We Don’t Have a Strategy Yet’ to Bomb ISIS in Syria,” ABC News, August 28, 2014, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obama-strategy-fight-isis/story?id=25164105. See also Russell Berman, “Obama Says ‘We Don’t Have a Strategy Yet’ in Syria,” originally published in Atlantic, n.d., https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/news/obama-says-dont-strategy-yet-syria-210240683.html; John Kerry, Every Day Is Extra (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2018), 542–48; Josh Rogin and Eli Lake, “Why Obama Backed Off More ISIS Strikes: His Own Team Couldn’t Agree on a Strategy,” Daily Beast, April 14, 2017, https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-obama-backed-off-more-isis-strikes-his-own-team-couldnt-agree-on-a-syria-strategy.
44.Parkinson and Dooley, “President Obama Says ‘We Don’t Have a Strategy Yet’ to Bomb ISIS in Syria”; Berman, “Obama Says ‘We Don’t Have a Strategy Yet’ in Syria.”
45.Helene Cooper and Eric Schmitt, “Airstrikes by U.S. and Allies Hit ISIS Targets in Syria,” New York Times, September 22, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/23/world/middleeast/us-and-allies-hit-isis-targets-in-syria.html; Patrick Wintour, “Russia and US ‘Planning Military Coordination against ISIS in Syria,’ ” Guardian, March 30, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/30/russia-and-us-planning-military-coordination-against-isis-in-syria; Kerry, Every Day Is Extra, 542–48.
46.“Obama Announces Expanded Air Strikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria—Speech Live Updates”; Ivan Eland, “U.S. Response to Syrian Civil War and Refugee Crisis Is Telling,” Common Dreams, September 9, 2015, https://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/09/09/us-response-syrian-civil-war-and-refugee-crisis-telling.
47.Manjana Pecht, “International Responses to Isis (and Why They Are Failing),” SIPRI, January 29, 2016, https://www.sipri.org/commentary/essay/2016/international-responses-isis-and-why-they-are-failing; David Frum, “The Disappointment of Barack Obama,” Atlantic, March 10, 2016, https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/03/obama-doctrine-goldberg-disappointment/473172/.
48.Quoted in Jeffrey Goldberg, “Obama’s Former Middle East Adviser: We Should Have Bombed Assad,” Atlantic, April 20, 2016, https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/04/philip-gordon-barack-obama-doctrine/479031/; Frum, “The Disappointment of Barack Obama.”
49.Andrew Blake, “George Soros: Obama Was ‘My Greatest Disappointment,’ ” Washington Times, July 18, 2018, https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jul/18/george-soros-obama-was-my-greatest-disappointment/.
50.Jeffrey Goldberg, “The Obama Doctrine,” Atlantic, April 2016, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/04/the-obama-doctrine/471525/.
51.Ibid. See also David Brooks, “Obama, Gospel and Verse,” New York Times, April 26, 2007, https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/opinion/26brooks.html.
52.Goldberg, “The Obama Doctrine.”
53.Ibid.
54.Ibid.; see also Frum, “The Disappointment of Barack Obama.”
55.Goldberg, “The Obama Doctrine”; Frum, “The Disappointment of Barack Obama.”
56.Goldberg, “The Obama Doctrine.”
57.Ibid.
58.Ibid.
59.Richard Fausset, Richard Pérez-Peña, and Campbell Robertson, “Alton Sterling Shooting in Baton Rouge Prompts Justice Dept. Investigation,” New York Times, July 6, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/06/us/alton-sterling-baton-rouge-shooting.html; Mitch Smith, “Minnesota Officer Acquitted in Killing of Philando Castile,” New York Times, June 16, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/16/us/police-shooting-trial-philando-castile.html; Larry McShane, “Philando Castile Stopped by Cops in Minnesota 52 Times in Past 14 Years for a Slew of Misdemeanors,” New York Daily News, July 9, 2016, https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/philando-castile-stopped-cops-52-times-14-years-article-1.2705348; Richard Fausset, “Baton Rouge Officer Is Fired in Alton Sterling Case as Police Release New Videos,” New York Times, March 30, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/30/us/baton-rouge-alton-sterling.html; Eric Levenson, “Baton Rouge Police Chief Apologizes for Hiring the Officer Who Killed Alton Sterling,” CNN, August 1, 2019, https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/01/us/alton-sterling-baton-rouge-police; Peniel E. Joseph, “Barack Obama and the Movement for Black Lives: Race, Democracy, and Criminal Justice in the Age of Ferguson,” in The Presidency of Barack Obama: A First Historical Assessment, ed. Julian E. Zelizer (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018), 140.
60.Manny Fernandez, Richard Pérez-Peña, and Jonah Engel-Bromwich, “Five Dallas Officers Were Killed as Payback, Police Chief Says,” New York Times, July 8, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/09/us/dallas-police-shooting.html; “Full Transcript of President Obama’s Speech at Dallas Police Memorial,” ABC News, July 12, 2016, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/full-transcript-president-obamas-speech-dallas-police-memorial/story?id=40521153.
61.“President Obama on the Fatal Shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile,” The White House, July 7, 2016, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2016/07/07/president-obama-fatal-shootings-alton-sterling-and-philando-castile; Emma Ockerman, “President Obama on Alton Sterling and Philando Castile Shootings: ‘All Americans Should Be Deeply Troubled,’ ” Time Magazine, July 7, 2016, https://time.com/4397070/president-obama-alton-sterling-philando-castile-shootings-statement/; Joseph, “The Movement for Black Lives,” 140; “Full Transcript of President Obama’s Speech at Dallas Police Memorial.”
62.“Full Transcript of President Obama’s Speech at Dallas.”
63.Ibid.
64.Ibid.
65.Ibid.
66.Ibid.; Maya Rhodan, “President Obama Defends Stance on Police, Black Lives Matter,” Time Magazine, July 14, 2016, https://time.com/4407362/president-obama-police-black-lives-matter-town-hall.
67.As it was, Obama’s address was criticized by both those who thought he had gone too far in defending BLM and by others who believed he did not go far enough in recognizing the institutional nature of racism and that the purpose of policing was to uphold hierarchies. See, for example, Rhodan, “President Obama Defends Stance on Police, Black Lives Matter”; Mychal Denzel Smith, “How President Obama Failed Black Lives Matter,” Washington Post, July 21, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/07/21/how-president-obama-failed-black-lives-matter/.
68.Risa Goluboff and Richard Schragger, “Obama’s Court?” in The Presidency of Barack Obama: A First Historical Assessment, ed. Julian E. Zeliger (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018), 92–93; Peter Baker, Obama: The Call of History (New York: Callaway, 2017), 337; David G. Savage, “The Congress Filled the Fewest Judgeships since 1952,” Los Angeles Times, December 31, 2016, https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-judges-trump-senate-20161231-story.html.
69.Goluboff and Schragger, “Obama’s Court?” 92–93; Baker, Obama, 337.
70.Ron Elving, “What Happened with Merrick Garland in 2016 and Why It Matters Now,” NPR, June 29, 2018, https://www.npr.org/2018/06/29/624467256/what-happened-with-merrick-garland-in-2016-and-why-it-matters-now; Goluboff and Schragger, “Obama’s Court?” 92–93; Baker, Obama, 337.
71.Elving, “What Happened with Merrick Garland in 2016 and Why It Matters Now.”
72.Elving, “What Happened with Merrick Garland in 2016 and Why It Matters Now”; Sarah Lyall, “Liberals Are Still Angry, but Merrick Garland Has Reached Acceptance,” New York Times, February 19, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/19/us/politics/merrick-garland-supreme-court-obama-nominee.html; Christian Farias, “Merrick Garland’s Supreme Court Nomination Just Died with the Old Congress,” Huffington Post, January 3, 2017, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/merrick-garland-supreme-court-nomination-dead_n_586be633e4b0de3a08f9a8f2; Lyall, “Liberals Are Still Angry, but Merrick Garland Has Reached Acceptance.”
73.“2016 Presidential Election Results,” New York Times, November 9, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/elections/2016/results/president; “2016 Election Results, CNN, November 9, 2016, https://www.cnn.com/election/2016/results; Gregory Krieg, “How Did Trump Win? Here Are 24 Theories,” CNN, November 10, 2016, https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/10/politics/why-donald-trump-won/index.html; Anthony Zurcher, “US Election 2016 Results: Five Reasons Donald Trump Won,” BBC, November 9, 2016, https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37918303.
74.Amy Chozick, Patrick Healey, and Yamiche Alcindor, “Bernie Sanders Endorses Hillary Clinton, Hoping to Unify Democrats,” New York Times, July 12, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/13/us/politics/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton.html.
75.Edward-Isaac Dovere, “Obama’s 2016 Warning: Trump Is a ‘Fascist,’ ” Atlantic, January 25, 2020, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/01/obama-2016-trump-fascist/605488/.
76.Barack Obama, “2016 Democratic National Convention Address,” American Rhetoric, July 27, 2016, https://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/convention2016/barackobamadnc2016.htm.
77.Ibid.
78.Ibid.
79.Michelle Obama, “Democratic National Convention Address,” American Rhetoric, July 25, 2016, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/convention2016/michelleobamadnc2016.htm.
80.Brian Stellar, “Convention Ratings: Democrats Beat Republicans, and Cable Tops Broadcast,” CNN, July 27, 2016, https://money.cnn.com/2016/07/27/media/democratic-convention-night-two-ratings; Stephen Battaglio, “TV Viewership for Hillary Clinton’s Acceptance Speech Is Smaller than Donald Trump’s,” Los Angeles Times, July 29, 2016, https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-dnc-ratings-20160729-snap-story.html; Brian Stellar, “Trump Prevails over Clinton in Convention Speech Ratings Race,” CNN, July 30, 2016, https://money.cnn.com/2016/07/29/media/democratic-convention-night-four-ratings.
81.David Brooks, “I Miss Barack Obama,” New York Times, February 9, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/09/opinion/i-miss-barack-obama.html; Sophia Tesfaye, “Now He Says He’ll Miss Obama, but Here Are 7 of David Brooks’ Worst,” Salon, February 9, 2016, https://www.salon.com/2016/02/09/now_he_says_hell_miss_obama_but_here_are_7_of_david_brooks_worst_critiques_of_the_president/; Ryu Spaeth, “David Brooks and Barack Obama: A Love Story,” New Republic, March11, 2016, https://newrepublic.com/article/131453/david-brooks-barack-obama-love-story.
82.Kevin Liptak, “Obama: ‘I Really, Really, Really Want to Elect Hillary Clinton,’ ” CNN, September 13, 2016, https://www.cnn.com/2016/09/13/politics/obama-campaign-trail-2016-election/index.html.
83.Ibid.; Anne Gearan and Phillip Rucker, “Obama Blasts Trump as a Phony Champion of the Working Class,” Washington Post, September 13, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-blasts-trump-as-a-phony-champion-of-the-working-class/2016/09/13/4a97be98-79c9-11e6-ac8e-cf8e0dd91dc7_story.html; Baker, Obama, 348–50.
84.De Elizabeth, “President Obama Just Delivered His Most Passionate Speech EVER,” Teen Vogue, September 18, 2016, https://www.teenvogue.com/story/president-obama-just-delivered-his-most-passionate-speech-ever; Ian Schwartz, “Obama: I Will Consider It an Insult to My Legacy If You Do Not Vote: Want to Give Me a Good Send Off? Go Vote,” Real Clear Politics, September 17, 2016, https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/09/17/obama_i_will_consider_it_an_insult_to_my_legacy_if_you_do_not_vote_want_to_give_me_a_good_send_off_go_vote.html. “Obama Says If African-Americans Do Not Vote, It Will Be a ‘Personal Insult,’ ” PBS News Hour, September 18, 2016, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/obama-african-american-vote.
85.Mark Landler and Ashley Parker, “Obama Tells Trump: Stop ‘Whining’ and Trying to Discredit the Election,” New York Times, October 18, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/19/us/politics/obama-donald-trump-election.html; Kanyakrit Vongkiatkajorn, “President Obama Just Gave His Last Campaign Speech for Hillary and It Was Amazing,” Mother Jones, November 8, 2016, https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/11/obama-speech-philadelphia/.
86.Philip Bump, “4.4 Million 2012 Obama Voters Stayed Home in 2016—More Than a Third of Them Black,” Washington Post, March 12, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/03/12/4-4-million-2012-obama-voters-stayed-home-in-2016-more-than-a-third-of-them-black/; “What Does Voter Turnout Tell Us about the 2016 Election?” PBS News Hour, November 20, 2016, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/voter-turnout-2016-election; Phillip Louis Casiano, “Michelle Obama Says These Americans Responsible for Trump’s 2016 Victory,” Fox News, May 4, 2017, https://www.foxnews.com/politics/michelle-obama-says-these-americans-responsible-trump-2016-victory; Baker, Obama, 364–65 and 369–70.
87.Rhodes, The World as It Is, 404; Barack Obama “Presidential Election Outcome Address,” American Rhetoric, November 9, 2016, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobama2016presidentialelectionoutcome.htm. See also Baker, Obama, 365–66.
88.“Barack Obama: Presidential Election Outcome Address”; Jelani Cobb, “Barack Obama in Defeat,” New Yorker, November 10, 2016, https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/barack-obama-in-defeat.
89.Barack Obama, “Remarks on First Meeting with President-Elect Donald Trump,” American Rhetoric, November 10, 2016, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamadonaldtrumpmeeting.htm; Barack Obama, “Press Conference Post 2016 Presidential Election,” American Rhetoric, November 14, 2016, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamapostelectionpresser.htm.
90.Rhodes, The World as It Is, 390–95 and 406–11; Baker, Obama, 356–57.
91.Tucker Higgins, “Obama Response to 2016 Russian Election Meddling Had ‘Many Flaws,’ Senate Report Finds,” CNBC, February 6, 2020, https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/06/obama-response-to-2016-russian-meddling-had-many-flaws-senate-report.html; Rice, Tough Love, 441–49; Baker, Obama, 358–64 and 372–73.
92.Simon Tisdall, “Obama Sets Off on Farewell Trip to Europe in Shadow of President-Elect,” Guardian, November 14, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/14/barack-obama-faces-awkward-task-on-sad-farewell-visit-to-europe; “In Europe to Calm Anxious Allies, Obama Warns against ‘Crude’ Nationalism,” CBS News, November 16, 2016, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-acropolis-greece-europe-worry-donald-trump-paris-agreement-climate-change/.
93.Barack Obama, “Address to the People of Greece,” American Rhetoric, November 16, 2016, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamagreecepeople.htm.
94.Barack Obama, “Joint Press Conference with Chancellor Angela Merkel,” American Rhetoric, November 17, 2016, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamaangelamerkelpresser2016.htm.
95.“Press Conference by President Obama in Lima, Peru,” Office of the Press Secretary, The White House, November 20, 2016, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/11/20/press-conference-president-obama-lima-peru.
96.Gardiner Harris and Keith Bradsher, “China’s Influence Grows in Ashes of Trans-Pacific Trade Pact,” New York Times, November 19, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/20/business/international/apec-trade-china-obama-trump-tpp-trans-pacific-partnership.html; Phillip Corey, “Labor Wants a Better Deal for Workers in Trade Deals,” Australian Financial Review, November 15, 2016, web page no longer available; “Obama Snubbed at APEC Conference,” The Night Wind (blog), November 23, 2016, https://nightwind777.blogspot.com/2016/11/obama-snubbed-at-apec-conference.html.
97.Harris and Bradsher, “China’s Influence Grows in Ashes of Trans-Pacific Trade Pact”; Corey, “Labor Wants a Better Deal for Workers in Trade Deals”; “Obama Snubbed at APEC Conference”; Andrea Zarate, “Protests Erupt in Peru Ahead of Asia-Pacific Economic Meeting,” New York Times, November 18, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/19/world/americas/peru-protests-apec.html.
98.Rice, Tough Love, 423.
99.Mark Landler and Michael D. Shear, “Obama’s Farewell Address: ‘Yes, We Did,’ ” New York Times, January 10, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/10/us/politics/obama-farewell-address-president.html; Maya Rhodan, “In His Farewell Speech, President Obama Returns to His Roots as a Community Leader,” Time Magazine, January 10, 2017, https://time.com/4631089/barack-obama-farewell-speech-analysis/.
100.Barack Obama, “Presidential Farewell Address,” American Rhetoric, January 10, 2017, http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamafarewelladdress.htm; Claire Cain Miller, “A Darker Theme in Obama’s Farewell: Automation Can Divide Us,” New York Times, January 12, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/12/upshot/in-obamas-farewell-a-warning-on-automations-perils.html.
101.Barack Obama, “Presidential Farewell Address.”
102.Barack Obama, “Final Presidential Press Conference,” American Rhetoric, January 18, 2017, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamafinalpressconference.htm; David Smith, “Barack Obama’s Final Press Conference Pep Talk,” Guardian, January 18, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/18/barack-obama-final-press-conference-press-sasha-malia-trump; John Cassidy, “Obama’s Not-So-Final Goodbye,” New Yorker, January 19, 2017, https://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/obamas-not-so-final-goodbye.
103.Barack Obama, “Final Presidential Press Conference”; Smith, “Barack Obama’s Final Press Conference Pep Talk”; Cassidy, “Obama’s Not-So-Final Goodbye”; “Barack Obama Uses Final Press Conference as US President to Defend Slashing Chelsea Manning’s Sentence,” ABC News, January 19, 2017, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-19/barack-obama-final-press-conference-as-president/8193092.
104.Barack Obama, “Final Presidential Press Conference”; Smith, “Barack Obama’s Final Press Conference Pep Talk”; Cassidy, “Obama’s Not-So-Final Goodbye”; “Barack Obama Uses Final Press Conference as US President to Defend Slashing Chelsea Manning’s Sentence.”

11. The Postpresidency

1.Burton I. Kaufman, The Post-Presidency from Washington to Clinton (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2012).
2.Ibid., 395, 435–36, and 516.
3.“All Five Former Presidents Appeared Together at a Concert to Raise Money for Hurricane Relief,” Business Insider, October 21, 2017, https://www.businessinsider.com/all-5-former-presidents-texas-hurricane-relief-concert-2017-10-2.
4.Barack Obama, “Final Presidential Press Conference,” American Rhetoric, January 18, 2017, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamafinalpressconference.htm.
5.Aimee Picchi, “Obama after the Presidency: He’ll Do Fine,” CBS News, May 31, 2016, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-after-the-presidency-hell-do-fine; Sam Dangremond, “What Malia Obama Is Doing During Her Gap Year,” Town and Country Magazine, January 25, 2017, https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/news/a5588/malia-obama-harvard; Katherine Skiba, “Obama’s Post-Presidential Life Beginning to Take Shape,” Chicago Tribune, January 16, 2017, https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-obamas-after-white-house-met-20170116-story.html; Amy Davidson Sorkin, “Obama’s Life Post-Presidency,” New Yorker, May 15, 2017, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/15/obamas-life-post-presidency.
6.Skiba, “Obama’s Post-Presidential Life Beginning to Take Shape”; Kate Andersen Brower, Team of Five: The President’s Club in the Age of Trump (New York: HarperCollins, 2020), 22.
7.Adam Edelman, “Life after the White House: How Obama Spent His First Year out of Office,” NBC News, January 20, 2018, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/barack-obama/life-after-white-house-how-obama-spent-his-first-year-n838951; “Here’s What Barack Obama Is Doing Now,” Town and Country, June 24, 2019, https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/politics/news/a9694/what-barack-obama-is.
8.Megan Friedman, “Read the Full Text Transcript of President Obama’s First Public Speech since Leaving Office,” Elle, April 24, 2017, https://www.elle.com/news/a44738/president-obama-university-chicago-transcript.
9.Edelman, “Life after the White House.”
10.Kriston Capps, “Why the Case against the Obama Presidential Center Is So Important,” Bloomberg News, February 21, 2019, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-21/chicago-battle-over-obama-presidential-center-goes-on; Lolly Bowean, “Federal Judge Tosses Suit Seeking to Stop Obama Center in Jackson Park, Compares Project to Soldier Field,” Chicago Tribune, June 12, https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-met-obama-library-decision-20190611-story.html.
11.“What’s behind Trump’s Charge That Obama Ordered Trump Tower Wiretap?” PBS News Hour, March 6, 2017, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/whats-behind-trumps-charge-obama-ordered-trump-tower-wiretap; Matthew Nussbaum, “Justice Department: No Evidence Obama Wiretapped Trump Tower,” Politico, September 2, 2017, https://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/02/obama-trump-tower-wiretap-no-evidence-242284; “DOJ: No Evidence Trump Tower Was Wiretapped,” Fox News, September 2, 2017, https://www.foxnews.com/politics/doj-no-evidence-trump-tower-was-wiretapped.
12.The quotes are in Brower, Team of Five, 18–19.
13.Edelman, “Life after the White House”; Tom McCarthy, “Obama’s Post-Presidential Life: What Does His Second Act Have in Store?” Guardian, December 25, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/25/obama-post-presidential-life-trump.
14.The full transcript of Obama’s remarks can be found in Vann R. Newkirk II, “Obama: This Bill Will Do You Harm,” Atlantic, June 22, 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/06/this-is-the-obamacare-speech-obama-never-gave/531330/; McCarthy, “Obama’s Post-Presidential Life”; Edelman, “Life after the White House”; Charlotte Gao, “A Closer Look at Obama’s Trip to China,” Diplomat, December 4, 2017, https://thediplomat.com/2017/12/a-closer-look-at-obamas-trip-to-china.
15.“Here’s What Barack Obama Is Doing Now”; McCarthy, “Obama’s Post-Presidential Life”; Edelman, “Life after the White House.”
16.“John McCain Funeral: Barack Obama Eulogy Transcript,” CBS News, September 1, 2018, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/john-mccain-funeral-barack-obama-eulogy-transcript. See also “John McCain Funeral: Obama’s Eulogy Denounces ‘Insult and Bombast’ in Politics,” Guardian, September 1, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/01/john-mccain-funeral-obamas-eulogy-denounces-insult-and-bombast-in-politics; Peter Baker, “In McCain Memorial Service, Two Presidents Offer Tribute, and Contrast to Trump,” New York Times, September 1, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/01/us/politics/john-mccain-funeral.html.
17.“Obama’s Full Speech on the State of American Democracy,” CBS News, September 7, 2012, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/barack-obama-speech-full-transcript-2018-09-07/. See also Peter Baker, “Obama Lashes Trump in Debut 2018 Speech. President’s Response: ‘I Fell Asleep,’ ” New York Times, September 7, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/07/us/politics/obama-2018-campaign-trump.html; Edward-Isaac Dovere, “Obama Delivers Full-Throated Rebuke of Trump’s Presidency,” Politico, September 7, 2018, https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/07/obama-says-trump-has-pushed-america-to-a-pivotal-moment-810650.
18.“Obama’s Full Speech on the State of American Democracy”; Baker, “Obama Lashes Trump in Debut 2018 Speech”; Dovere, “Obama Delivers Full-Throated Rebuke of Trump’s Presidency.”
19.“Obama’s Full Speech on the State of American Democracy.”
20.Ibid.
21.Ibid.
22.Alexi McCammond, “Where the Obamas Are Hitting the Campaign Trail in 2018,” Axios, September 15, 2018, https://www.axios.com/obamas-campaign-trail-2018-midterms-9cffb339-fcea-4cb0-9156-dfa0339d51e7.html.
23.Erin Durkin, “Democrats Secure 218 Seats in Midterms to Win Control of House—as It Happened,” Guardian, November 7, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2018/nov/06/us-midterms-elections-2018-latest-live-polls-news-updates-donald-trump-republicans-democrats?page=with:block-5be29c2be4b0e3827e155d14; “U.S. Senate Election Results 2018,” New York Times, November 6, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/06/us/elections/results-senate-elections.html; “U.S. House Election Results 2018,” New York Times, November 6, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/06/us/elections/results-house-elections.html.
24.Barack Obama, A Promised Land (New York: Crown, 2020); “Here’s What Barack Obama Is Doing Now,” Town and Country, June 24, 2019, https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/politics/news/a9694/what-barack-obama-is-doing-now/.
25.“Welcome to the Obama Foundation,” Obama Foundation, n.d., https://obama.org.
26.“Obama Foundation Scholars,” Obama Foundation, n.d., https://www.obama.org/scholars; “Obama Foundation Scholars Program,” Scholarships for Development, March 19, 2018, https://www.scholars4dev.com/21843/obama-foundation-scholars-program; Gospel Chinonso, “Obama Foundation Scholars Program 2021–2022 (Fully Funded),” Columbia University, January 6, 2021, https://www.academicrelated.com/obama-foundation-scholars-program.
27.“Obama Foundation Scholars”; “Obama Foundation Scholars Program”; “Obama Foundation Scholars Program 2021–2022 (Fully Funded).”
28.See chapter 9, “Racial Crisis.” See also Scott Horsley, “Obama’s Post-White House Plans Include My Brother’s Keeper Effort,” NPR, December 26, 2016, https://www.npr.org/2016/12/26/507021405/obamas-post-white-house-plans-include-my-brothers-keeper-effort; “About My Brother’s Keeper Alliance,” Obama Foundation, n.d., https://www.obama.org/mbka/about-mbka/.
29.Horsley, “Obama’s Post-White House Plans Include My Brother’s Keeper Effort”; “About My Brother’s Keeper Alliance.”
30.“Obama Defends Black Lives Matter Movement,” PBS News Hour, October 23, 2015, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/obama-defends-black-lives-matter-movement; “President Obama Defends Black Lives Matter Movement,” CBS News, October 23, 2015, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/president-barack-obama-defends-black-lives-matter-movement.
31.Sam Levine, “Obama Praises Black Lives Matter, but Says Activists Must Compromise,” Huffington Post, April 23, 2016, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/obama-black-lives-matter_n_571b9414e4b0d4d3f7238bb6.
32.Maggie Astor, “What Trump, Biden and Obama Said about the Death of George Floyd,” New York Times, May 29, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/29/us/politics/george-floyd-trump-biden-obama.html; “Read: Barack Obama’s Statement on George Floyd’s Death,” U.S. News, May 29, 2020, https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2020-05-29/read-barack-obamas-statement-on-george-floyds-death.
33.Jonathan Capehardt, “Obama’s Raw Recollections on Race in ‘A Promised Land,’ ” Washington Post, November 27, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/11/27/obamas-raw-recollections-race-promised-land/.
34.Alexandra Svokos, “Former President Barack Obama Issues Statement on George Floyd,” ABC News, May 29, 2020, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-barack-obama-issues-statement-george-floyd/story?id=70954996; “Barack Obama Attacks Trump Administration’s Response to Coronavirus Pandemic,” Guardian, May 17, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/16/barack-obama-coronavirus-donald-trump-criticism-speech-covid-19; Peter Wade, “Obama Torches Trump on COVID-19: ‘A Lot of Them Aren’t Even Pretending to Be in Charge,’ ” Rolling Stone, May 16, 2020, https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/obama-torches-trump-coronavirus-commencement-address-1001041/.
35.“Barack Obama Attacks Trump Administration’s Response to Coronavirus Pandemic.”
36.Maggie Astor and Katie Glueck, “Barack Obama Endorses Joe Biden for President,” New York Times, April 14, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/14/us/politics/obama-endorses-biden.html; Sean Sullivan, Anne Linskey, and Michael Scherer, “Biden’s Endorsement Rollout Has One Goal: To Show Him as the Leader of a Newly Unified Party,” Washington Post, April 14, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/former-president-barack-obama-to-announce-support-for-joe-biden-his-former-vice-president/2020/04/14/99a49a56-7e57-11ea-8013-1b6da0e4a2b7_story.html; “Obama Endorses Biden for President in an Attempt to Unite Democratic Party,” Guardian, April 14, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/14/barack-obama-endorse-joe-biden-2020-election-democrats.
37.Astor and Glueck, “Barack Obama Endorses Joe Biden for President”; Sullivan, Linskey, and Scherer, “Biden’s Endorsement Rollout Has One Goal”; “Obama Endorses Biden for President in an Attempt to Unite Democratic Party.”
38.Astor and Glueck, “Barack Obama Endorses Joe Biden for President”; Sullivan, Linskey, and Scherer, “Biden’s Endorsement Rollout Has One Goal”; “Obama Endorses Biden for President in an Attempt to Unite Democratic Party.”
39.“First Thing Election Special: Barack Obama Is Back on the Campaign Trail,” Guardian, October 22, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/22/first-thing-election-special-barack-obama-is-back-on-the-campaign-trail; “Watch: Obama Campaigns for Biden in Orlando,” PBS News Hour, October 27, 2020, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-barack-obama-campaigns-for-joe-biden-in-orlando; Melissa Quinn, “Campaigning in Florida, Obama Says Trump Is ‘Jealous of COVID’s Media Coverage,’ ” CBS News, October 27, 2020, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-drive-in-rally-orlando-florida-biden-campaign-watch-live-stream-today-2020-10-27; Iyani Hughes, “President Obama Campaigns in Georgia One Day Ahead of Elections,” CNN, November 2, 2020, https://www.cbs46.com/news/president-obama-campaigns-in-georgia-one-day-ahead-of-election/article_fada6044-1d12-11eb-b514-f3251ebe24af.html.
40.“U.S. Presidential Election Results 2020: Biden Wins,” NBC News, December 18, 2020, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-elections/president-results; Erin Delmore, “Stacey Abrams Is 2020’s Election Star—Can She Turn Georgia Blue Again, in 2021?” NBC News, November 18, 2020, https://www.nbcnews.com/know-your-value/feature/stacey-abrams-2020-s-election-star-can-she-turn-georgia-ncna1248104; Jazz Tangcay, “Stacey Abrams Hailed as a ‘Game Changer’ by Documentarians Who Chronicled Her,” Variety, November 9, 2020, https://variety.com/2020/politics/news/stacey-abrams-2020-election-all-in-documentaries-1234826048/.
41.See, for example, “Obama Appears in Three Digital Campaign Ads for Georgia’s Raphael Warnock,” CNN, December 18, 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/18/politics/obama-warnock-senate-ad/index.html.

Annotate

Next Chapter
Selected Bibliography
PreviousNext
Copyright © 2022 by Cornell University, All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. Visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu.
Powered by Manifold Scholarship. Learn more at
Opens in new tab or windowmanifoldapp.org