Friday, November 14, 2008
Post-mortem
Here's an interesting tidbit from the New Yorker's report on the Obama campaign:Obama, who is not without an ego, regarded himself as just as gifted as his top strategists in the art and practice of politics. Patrick Gaspard, the campaign's political director, said that when, in early 2007, he interviewed for a job with Obama and Plouffe, Obama said that he liked being surrounded by people who expressed strong opinions, but he also said, 'I think that I'm a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I'll tell you right now that I'm gonna think I'm a better political director than my political director.' After Obama's first debate with McCain, on September 26th, Gaspard sent him an e-mail. 'You are more clutch than Michael Jordan,' he wrote. Obama replied, 'Just give me the ball.
The piece itself is a great look at the people behind the campaign, how they matured and adjusted over the course of the campaign, and how they ultimately won the elections.
Newsweek has a much longer report, in seven parts, that came out this week. The magazine's reporters had previously negotiated for total access with the Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain campaigns with the condition that the stories wouldn't be published until after the elections.
- Part 1 - How He Did It
- Part 2 - Back from the Dead
- Part 3 - The Long Siege
- Part 4 - Going Into Battle
- Part 5 - Center Stage
- Part 6 - The Great Debates
- Part 7 - The Final Days
Haven't read all of it yet. I printed out the whole thing (22 pages in 6-point type) to read for the weekend.
Labels: barack obama, politics, us elections
Comments:
11/15/2008 9:28 AM -- 
pinaybythebay says:
Hey!
Just wanted to say thanks for the links to the Newsweek articles. It was a very interesting and enlightening read :0) Convinced me all the more that our votes were not wasted on him (Obama).
