Believer: My Forty Years in Politics (67 page)
Read Believer: My Forty Years in Politics Online
Authors: David Axelrod
Hours after he learned that the grandmother who raised him had passed away, Obama tearfully spoke of her before a huge rally in North Carolina on our final campaign swing.
Capping off inauguration night at the White House, with Susan and the new president. The next morning, we would show up for work to face an economic crisis, two wars, and a determined Republican opposition.
When I was leaving for the White House, Lauren presented me with this picture she had painted of it, with the Chicago skyline reflecting in the North Lawn fountain, to remind me of home. It was the first thing I saw every day when I walked into my office.
Sundays were rarely a day off. Here I joust with former host David Gregory on NBC’s
Meet the Press
.
With the nation in crisis, we met daily with the president’s economic advisers, led by Larry Summers, a powerful personality at the core of a sometimes fractious team.
Obama’s decision to take on health care reform touched off a titanic year-long struggle. Here I am, making a point in the Oval Office with the president; Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel; our health care point person, Nancy-Ann DeParle; and legislative director Phil Schiliro.
The president drops into my office, adjacent to his, during one of my daily meetings with the White House speechwriters. Those sessions, where we hashed out themes and messaging, were a highlight of my day.
The debate over strategy in Afghanistan would consume much of our first year in the White House. Here I am in Kabul, with Obama; General Stanley McChrystal, the allied commander; and Hamid Karzai, the mercurial Afghan president.
On the runway in Louisiana, where we traveled on Air Force One to survey the damage of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in June 2010. The leak was one of many headaches leading into what would be a disastrous midterm election.
Defying the odds, we were in control of the 2012 election for most of the year, with one glaring exception. Despite multiple debate prep sessions like this one, the president still fell into a trap in his first encounter with Mitt Romney.
On the road to the 2012 Democratic National Convention, September 1, 2012.
“The Davids.” Through two campaigns, David Plouffe and I were strategic partners. A brilliant manager and visionary tactician, Plouffe was the perfect counterpoint to my more instinctive style.