Campaign Journal 2008: A Chronicle of Vision, Hope, and Glory

In this distinctive and personal narrative of BarackObama’s 2008 campaign for the American presidency,Carlos Rangel chronicles the underlying currents of socialchange that led to this successful campaign. The resultswere a president with a clear majority of the votes cast;elected by a commanding majority of electoral votes; andwho won states on both coasts, in the South, the Rust Belt,and the West. There were no recount battles, or interventionby the courts.Rangel notes that the effective professional politiciangathers coalitions around positions on the issues and usesthese coalitions to formulate policies that bring thesepositions to fruition. The Obama Campaign coalescedexpectations that he would be able to rapidly transformthe way the country is led and lead Americans to a betterfuture. These expectations were multiplied by an effective,well-run campaign. Certainly, Obama’s capacity to inspireduring the campaign led many to believe he could do thesame as president.Management of high expectations became one ofPresident Obama’s greatest challenges in the immediateperiod after the election. In transforming ideals of hopeand change into reality, he faced political resistance frommultiple fronts, an economy with structural flaws, and aninternationally isolated United States. Rangel’s uniquebackground in Latin America enables him to make sharpobservations about policies and campaign statements thatmay have influence in that region, including trade deals,drug wars and the populist rhetoric, and actions emanatingfrom the region. This book is a solid start at analysisof the years ahead, as well as the year that was.