Weeks before the inauguration, Barack Obama's election has taken on an air of inevitability, though that was hardly the case deep into the fall of 2007. On the night of January 3, 2008, however, when 250,000 Iowans appeared at caucuses to express their presidential preference, it was apparent his message of change had begun to take hold. That message, when combined with a disciplined campaign organization that melded a powerful grassroots effort with ingenious use of cutting-edge technology, resonated with voters in a way that startled even seasoned political experts.
While acknowledging the skill of Obama's team, the Newsweek reporters are unsparing in exposing the occasionally humorous blunders of Hillary Clinton's campaign strategists like Mark Penn, who operated from the premise that her nomination and election were preordained. As for the Bush-hobbled Republicans, while Evan Thomas and his colleagues probably are correct in concluding that "McCain could have performed flawlessly and still succumbed to economic reality," the account of his advisors' decision to shut down the Straight Talk Express (the "pirate ship" as one reporter described it), leaves little question that a more effective campaign could have produced a result that, if no different, at least might have been more in doubt when November 4 arrived.
Those troubled souls still in withdrawal from their daily fix of Hardball/Countdown/Rachel Maddow or who haven't yet deleted fivethirtyeight.com from their list of bookmarks may not find much that's new or startling in this book. For them, its liberal helping of photographs--some of them startlingly candid--should bring some solace. And there's the transcript of an extensive and revealing May 2008 interview with Barack Obama, in which he comments, "I've never felt that my worth is dependent on me winning this presidential campaign, that I have something that I have to prove." For less-obsessed observers, the book is an informative recap of a campaign suffused with sensitive and potentially explosive themes of race and gender along with more than its share of pure human drama.
Historians and political strategists will spend years deconstructing the story of the 2008 presidential campaign. Barack Obama's election was historic not only because of who won, but also for how he did it, as this book reminds us. Now comes the hard part.--Harvey Freedenberg
Shelf Talker: Evan Thomas and an experienced team of Newsweek reporters have produced an informative and entertaining first look at the story of one of the most remarkable campaigns in American political history.