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Barack Obama: De kandidaat - Van Outsider tot President

Richard Wolffe

3.93 · Rating details · 1,991 ratings · 117 reviews

Written by British political reporter Richard Wolffe, Renegade is an election epic as well as an insightful biography of the new President of the United States. During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama told Wolffe that, 'You'll get more access than anyone else', resulting in a riveting first-hand account of the 21-month journey from candidate to president. Wolffe cov ...more

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Hardcover, 462 pages

Published 2010 by De Morgen (first published January 1st 2009)

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Jun 12, 2017 Bettie marked it as wish-list · review of another edition

I will be all over the graphic version when it comes out. ...more

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Jun 17, 2009 Anna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

I cried reading this the first time - at work - and I cried rereading it now. It's a little fawning over Obama but...it works for me. This will sound cheesy but I'll read the part about election day a lot, because I never want to forget that day, or that moment. I think it will be one of those days, like when JFK was assassinated, or 9/11, when people ask each other for the rest of their lives where they were at that moment. I'll always remember and I like to read about that moment from Obama's ...more

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Jun 12, 2009 Laura rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Of all the self-styled pundits on television, Richard Wolffe is the smartest, most low-key, and circumspect. Come to think of it, he is the ONLY smart, low key and circumspect teevee talking head. That's why when I heard he'd written a book about Obama, I had to read it, immediately.
Glad I did, too.
In addition to the fact that he had direct and frequent access to Obama throughout the campaign and after (which means, of course, that he has lots of inside stuff to tell us), he weaves various time ...more

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Jul 24, 2016 Chris Ziesler rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: history, non-fiction, politics

On the face of it Renegade tells the story of the Obama campaign for the primaries and the historic Presidential Election of 2008. This in itself is a story worth telling. In fact it presents a much more profound and interesting story than merely providing us with another campaign account. Wolffe was granted unrivaled access to the Obama campaign. He used that access wisely and well. Wolffe, with his journalist's eye for detail and his sharp ear for the telling phrase, narrates his way through t On the face of it Renegade tells the story of the Obama campaign for the primaries and the historic Presidential Election of 2008. This in itself is a story worth telling. In fact it presents a much more profound and interesting story than merely providing us with another campaign account. Wolffe was granted unrivaled access to the Obama campaign. He used that access wisely and well. Wolffe, with his journalist's eye for detail and his sharp ear for the telling phrase, narrates his way through the critical months of Obama's rise to power interweaving vital biographical background to provide us with more satisfying and complete picture of the candidate than any other commentator.

What makes his account unique are the numerous personal asides, comments and insights given by Obama to the author as they trek together through the arduous months of the campaign trail. Of course we all know the eventual outcome of one of the most iconoclastic and improbable campaigns of modern times but Wolffe's major success is in bringing alive the key moments of the campaign such as the setbacks like losing the New Hampshire primary, the intimate details of the campaign, Biden pounding on McCain's door in anger because McCain had refused to take a phone call, being one of my favorites, the moments of genuine doubt and of course the eventual triumph.

An interesting recurrent theme in the book is Obama's love of and dedication to basketball. He had played good high school level ball and had even dreamed of trying to make the professional grade. Although he ultimately found an outlet for his energies and skills elsewhere he never lost his passion for the game. His love of basketball was something he shared with Wolffe who had also played at high school and college. There a numerous instances in the book of Obama grabbing a few free moments to play some pick-up ball with his team to get away from the intense pressure of events, to mentally recharge and to reconnect himself with the tangible ideas of teamwork, dedication, skill and common effort towards victory that are so familiar to anyone who has ever played a team sport.

The victory was in large part due to Obama's personality: his directed intelligence, his calmness in a crisis, his ability to sum up difficult situations and take decisive action to effective address the problem, his discipline and hard work, and above all his ability to motivate and lead a team towards achieving a difficult objective. Wolffe also reflects that one of the purposes of the long election process in the US is to stress-test the candidate for their ability to cope under pressure. It may be an imperfect process but it certainly has merit in testing the metal of a candidate over a prolonged period for their fitness to hold the highest office in the land and the most powerful elected position in the world. It is very instructive in following the 2016 presidential campaign to consider which of the two presidential candidates displays similar traits.

As we discover right at the end of the book the original idea was to provide an answer to the question with which Wolffe challenged Obama as the campaign drew to a close, "just who is Barack Obama?" Wolffe succeeds admirably in answering that question in depth and in detail. ...more

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May 30, 2020 Gerry Sacco rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I very much enjoyed this book. It read as a very fair, and accurate portrayal not just of a once in a lifetime campaign, but also on a once in a lifetime president.

I’ve always been a Barack Obama supporter, my mom was much later on, as she was a Hillary supporter. But we both have a great adoration for the man now. From saving the economy, to helping push marriage equality, to giving millions, including my mom, the right to healthcare, he has achieved many great things. But, to get there, he ne I very much enjoyed this book. It read as a very fair, and accurate portrayal not just of a once in a lifetime campaign, but also on a once in a lifetime president.

I’ve always been a Barack Obama supporter, my mom was much later on, as she was a Hillary supporter. But we both have a great adoration for the man now. From saving the economy, to helping push marriage equality, to giving millions, including my mom, the right to healthcare, he has achieved many great things. But, to get there, he needed to win. And this book is quite the journey of just that, his historic win.

It was so interesting seeing someone who is so brilliant be flustered and even annoyed at times. Someone who is so charismatic fail to win over people. It’s also really something else to see someone have the guts to continuously refuse to go low in the campaign trail, and even go so far as to yell at his staff when they do it behind his back, and then make sure it never happens again. It’s also beautiful to see him invite his secret service members to thanksgiving dinner table, because they’d be away from their family’s to protect his, and, why wouldn’t you? Only to then find out it was a big deal because no one had before.

My girlfriend likes to put quotes in each of her reviews. And honestly, of all people, how could I not? It’s funny because I compare him a lot to JFK, and in this book, the same comparison is drawn a few times. So of course, you could have quotes for days.

I guess the one I would pick is, “It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children. But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins.”

I very much enjoyed his discussions about religion and race. His honesty and earnestness were exactly what I’d expect. ...more

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Jan 17, 2012 Jana Perskie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, journalistic-nonfiction

On March 18, 2008, presidential candidate Barak H. Obama spoke to the American people from Philadelphia. He addressed race in a manner that has rarely been discussed in a public forum before. But Barak Obama was a historical candidate running for the presidency of the United States of America in extraordinary times. And he spoke as someone from both inside and outside the African American experience.

Two days after this address, he approached award-winning journalist Richard Wolffe, who had been On March 18, 2008, presidential candidate Barak H. Obama spoke to the American people from Philadelphia. He addressed race in a manner that has rarely been discussed in a public forum before. But Barak Obama was a historical candidate running for the presidency of the United States of America in extraordinary times. And he spoke as someone from both inside and outside the African American experience.

Two days after this address, he approached award-winning journalist Richard Wolffe, who had been covering the Obama campaign for Newsweek Magazine ever since the candidate announced his run for the presidency on January 16, 2007. Wolffe, while interviewing Obama, told him that his story was largely unknown, even though he had written a bestselling memoir, "Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance." Wolffe said, "People want to know who you are. Who are you? That's the question people are going to ask six months from now, and six years from now." The candidate agreed with Wolffe's assessment, and asked the journalist to write a "Theodore White kind of book" about the campaign. Mr White won the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction in 1962 for his book, "The Making of the President, 1960," about the campaign between Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy. He then went on to write outstanding books about the 1964,1968 and 1972 presidential campaigns.

Wolffe dismissed the notion of authoring a "Making of a Present-type" book. He said there was already too much press coverage. He told the future president, to my great dismay, that "publishers want partisan screeds nowadays. They don't want reporting." Wolffe then went on to say or think, "Teddy White. How archaic. The poor man, (Obama), doesn't understand the media." The condescension of the author is outrageous, as he terms obsolete the ever relevant Mr. White, and the "what sells in print naivetee" of Obama. That was a real turn-off for me.

Given the very nature of candidate Barak Obama, his lovely family, the historical significance of an African American man entering the presidential campaign, with a woman, Hillary Clinton, as his leading contender, his eventual opponent, John McCain, with his own historic and dramatic story, and the unlikely choice of Sarah Palin as the Republican vice-presidential candidate - a journalist would have to be a total flop to write a bad book about such events. And Richard Wolffe is certainly no slouch.

Drawing on some twenty-four months of coverage and countless interviews with Barak Obama, Wolffe has attempted to answer the "Who is he?" question.

Because of all the media coverage of all the candidates and campaigns, there is little that surprised me in "Renegade," which, by the way, was the Secret Service's name for Obama during his candidacy. There are a few new tidbits, especially about events surrounding Hillary Clinton's appointment as Secretary of State. I did find myself wishing for a Theodore White kind of book, however, with more objective coverage about both Democrat and Republican campaigns, their conventions and platforms, and more gossipy details of infighting, etc., from behind the scenes.

"Renegade gives us a more biased look at the amazing story of Barak Obama's presidential run and his big win in November 2008. The reader is given a ring-side seat to the candidates long journey - from freshman senator, (99th out of 100 senators in seniority), who had trouble gaining admission to the Democratic convention in 2000 - to President of the United States. What a ride! Yet, there is something lacking here - perhaps the tension and excitement which would have come from a more bipartisan coverage.

I enjoyed the read, but I was a Hillary supporter long before I fell in line and campaigned for Obama. I would have liked to read, at the very least, an Obama & staff summary of why she lost the nomination. What were her biggest mistakes? The biggest mistakes her staff made? I'd like to know why in the world John McCain selected Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential candidate.

There are portions of the book, however, which are quite moving. I learned that the future President Obama is, in fact, a man of moral character, a family man and a brilliant man, with a natural ability to lead and the strength to tackle difficult issues with tremendous energy, and an openness and realistic optimism that inspires.

There are passages like: "His memoir revolved around something and someone not present in his childhood: his African father and his African American identity. Even that was a partial view, obscuring the role of his mother and grandparents: the white family that raised him. He was obviously black, yet he grew up with a white perspective. He was American, yet he grew up with an international perspective. He was a Democrat who sought to understand the Republican perspective. He was a moderate who spoke the language of radical change, and a progressive who spoke in moderate tones." Now that is wonderful descriptive writing and right on target!

Unfortunately, Mr. Wolffe's prose does not flow. He is all over the place with his timelines. In one paragraph he writes about an incident which takes place during the campaign for the Democratic Party's nomination, and two paragraphs later he has the now president-elect making cabinet decisions. A few pages along, the reader gets excerpts of Obama debating McCain, and then we are back at the Iowa, and Nevada caucuses. There are few segues which allow the reader to smoothly make the transitions in time and place. I really expected more from this journalist, whom I respect and admire. And I would like to know who edited the book!

So, if you are an Obama fan, as I am, try to buy the book used or borrow it. I won't tell you not to buy it at full market price, because I did, and am really not sorry. I would have been hard-pressed to wait for the paperback edition. I give it 3.5 Stars for the writing and 4 Stars for the content.
...more

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Dec 24, 2018 Anthony rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: history, social-sciences, biography, political-science, non-fiction, politics, cultural-african-american

This book tells the story of a freshman senator with a funny name, and no money, and how he overcame insurmountable odds, hurdles, and obstacles to make a successful run for the presidency of the United States. Given the code name: Renegade by his secret service team, Barack Hussein Obama provides a series of exclusive interviews while on the campaign trail an up-close, ground level look into who he is in the public eye and during his private moments.

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Jul 27, 2009 Brian Ayres rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I must admit that I voted and support Barack Obama, which might cloud the issue of why I read and enjoyed Richard Wolffe's analysis of his rise to power. However, Wolffe's book, while a touch long, is well-written and well-sourced and is not simply a blow-by-blow account of the 2008 primary and general election campaigns. Wolffe does steal a lot from Obama's two books, particularly Dreams from My Father, his autobiographical struggles with his racial identity. Wolffe uses Obama's words and exper ...more

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May 24, 2011 Gary Charles added it · review of another edition

Renegade
This book is interesting because it actually put you in the shoes of the president, through everything. The pressure, the elections and the life as president. This book is detail in how things works in the white house. In this book there is only one main person I whould like to be and that is barrack Obama. Because it is a bibliography on one specific person it is hard to choose. When I read this book I felt somewhat inspired to try my best because reading this book makes you realize tha ...more

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Nov 15, 2009 Miranda rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Disappointing. I was expecting mostly a descriptive, behind the scenes narrative of the campaign. What I got was more of an argument, and a pretty oppressive one at that, for why President Obama is so awesome. A subset of that argument is most definitely how awful all the other options were (Clinton, McCain, former President Bush). It's fine to provide nuance or correct some misstatement propagated by Obama's opponents, but this was invariably followed by a dig at the aforementioned other option ...more

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Jan 28, 2010 Irfan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: advisory

This book is about a hero and his dream to make the best of his abilities. That hero is a hero of Americans and foreigners all around and certainly my hero. That person is Barack Obama. Richard Wolffe explains Obama and his dream in such an impressive way that it makes an Obama hater stop and admire a man as brave as him.
I have always said to people all around that we are a point in our lives that history is being made in front of us. RENEGADE is the untold story of a poor person and his struggl ...more

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Jun 14, 2009 Stephanie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: politics

I love Richard Wolffe. He and Keith have kept me nodding in agreement for years, it seems, and as soon as Keith mentioned this book, I knew I had to request it. It did occur to me that there is part of me that LIKES having Obama on a pedestal, because generally once I realize someone is flawed and human, it detracts a bit from my positive vibe, but in this case, reading the more human side of Obama than that carefully served up by the media and seeing behind some of the events I watched so close ...more

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Jul 19, 2013 Perkimom rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Lord knows, I'm a huge fan, but while I learned new things here and there it was a struggle to finish and I'm headed to a trashy chick-lit novel as a reward. ...more

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Jul 16, 2019 Ruth rated it liked it · review of another edition

Where Game Change was a sprawling, often second-hand, account of all the major 2008 candidates, with Renegade, Wolffe provides the only total-access, first hand account of the Obama campaign. To my knowledge, no reporter during the election was a close to Obama as he was, as evidenced by the many conversations with the candidate/president that were quite candid, personal and detailed. While Wolffe's presentation can at times feel biased towards the Obama camp and so immersed in their campaign th ...more

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Apr 02, 2018 Patrick Hanlon rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Interesting to see an outsider suggest that Obama was more self-directed than he professed in his memoirs and shocking to read of Hillary Clinton's wishes that Obama cover her 2008 campaign debts before dropping out of the Democratic primaries. A good look behind the curtain during the campaign. ...more

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Feb 25, 2018 Glenn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Enjoyed the book. It jumps though back and forth in time so some times I had to check the time frame I was reading about. Love following the journey.

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Apr 17, 2020 John rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: in-library

A detailed step by step story of his campaign trail. Not what I was expecting.

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May 26, 2012 Matt rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: history-political, biography, 2013-reads

Reading Richard Wolffe's Renegade in the context of the last four years, instead of less than a year after Barack Obama's 2008 victory, helps one realize how pragmatic the then junior of Illinois really was in his political thinking even as he challenged the establishment. Throughout the book, Wolffe threads the narrative of the nearly two-year campaign with Obama's biography and life experiences to help give an informed view of Barack Obama and how he used those experiences to shape his campaig ...more

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Jun 20, 2009 Marti Lewis rated it liked it · review of another edition

Finished reading this on 4th of July. I respect Richard Wolffe highly for his writing and reporting. I was going to skip this book, since I don't need a rehash of the campaign so soon after it. Then I heard a radio interview that got me interested. Indeed, a lot of this is a rehash for me, but it has some interesting points that were new for me.

Wolffe explains how the slogan "Yes, we can" came into being after the Obama lost the New Hampshire primary to Hillary Clinton. His managers didn't want ...more

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Jan 19, 2016 Fred Klein rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This book was supposedly induced by Obama's suggestion that someone should write a book along the lines of Theodore White's "Making of the President" series (1960-1972, 1980). After White stopped writing his excellent series (picking it up one more time for the 1980 election), Jules Witcover and Jack Germond wrote their excellent presidential election series (1976 (Witcover alone for this one), 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992).

"Renegade" is not up to the standard of those books. For one thing, it only fo ...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Carlos Smith rated it liked it · review of another edition

'Renegade' is marketed as the inside story behind the historic Obama campaign. I was excited to read it because I thought I would get some real dirt on all the candidates. Who's a bitch, and who's and even bigger bitch, right? Well sure, there was some of that. The tit for tat we all watched play out during Decision 2008 is replayed in good detail. We are also privy to specific incidences of childish behavior from John McCain, unexpected anger from VP Biden, and the full circle of emotions from ...more

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Jul 01, 2009 Barron rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Sometimes, reading this book is like hearing Terry McAuliffe spin, if Terry was a spinner for the Obama campaign. Wolffe makes it his job to "debunk" even the most obviously true of the negative campaign narratives about Obama--witness his embarassing contention that "the media didn't get it" when Obama asked Iowa farmers if they'd seen the price of arugala at Whole Foods lately. It was "the pundits" (Newsweek writers excepted?) who were condescending to think that farmers didn't know what aruga ...more

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Sep 22, 2009 Andrew rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The 2008 presidential election was a longer test of the candidates and nominees than any previous election, a trend that is sure to be repeated for most foreseeable presidential campaigns to come. I was one of the many college students enthralled by all the attention both sides were getting, but was particularly interested in the Democratic ticket because I felt there was really no chance for a Republican to win (even though Sen. McCain put forth a great effort). This book takes the reader insid ...more

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Jun 03, 2009 Erin rated it liked it · review of another edition

I enjoyed the book, it gave good insight into what the first campaign was like. However, reading it 4 years later, it makes me wonder how much more I would have liked if I had read it sooner after the first win than the second win, due to the questions it raises on how things went the 2nd time around and how closely he was able to have a presidency that similar to what he ran on. (I know there is plenty out there on that topic, but I want to hear it from his thoughts/perspectives) I didn't follo ...more

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Mar 14, 2011 Mike rated it liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Mike by: mikeduncanmba@yahoo.com

This is the second book that I've read on the 2008 presidential election, with the other being Game Change.

Buy on Amazon

This book focuses on Obama and is less sensational. The journalist who wrote the book had close access to Obama from the announcement of his campaign for president to his first days in the Oval office. If you want to find an intimate and nuanced portrait of Obama and his inner circle, this is an excellent book.

I thought the structure was interesting, in that it's not strictly i ...more

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Sep 21, 2013 Paul Kearney rated it it was ok · review of another edition

An insider's account from unknown to president. It's to the book's credit that Obama's future ineffectiveness in the Senate can be guessed at, When such pressure on one man is always felt. Consistent throughout the author state's his job was neither to raise him up nor tear him down. But this results in most things merely being hinted at, Which is unsatisfying when the problems are so glaring. Mainly winning on change then rehiring the same old faces that have been knocking around the halls of t ...more

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Jun 10, 2009 Dawn rated it liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: People who like politics and/or President Obama

Recommended to Dawn by: NPR

Shelves: knowledge-nf, 2009

It was a really enjoyable read, but then I'm a fan of Barack Obama.
It is more investigative-based, but I still found it to be pretty pro-Obama. The author throws in a couple of jabs at Republicans and Hillary Clinton, though they are centered around how their campaign were run, and since they did lose, I guess he was right in his negativity.

The first chapters were interesting, because he wasn't really on my radar at the beginning of the election, so I liked seeing how it all started. The ending ...more

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Aug 18, 2011 Micah Fretz rated it liked it · review of another edition

This book was written by Richard Wolffe a journalist that followed Obama throughout the 2008 campaign. Wolffe does an amazing job of putting you in shoes of a presidential candidate and the grueling campaign full of up and down, the traveling, the all nighters, and the over all emotional and physical stress that one would go through. I diffidently learned at lot more how Obama grassroots campaigns were organized and the tidal wave that followed.
I will have to admit I did not finish the book thou ...more

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Mar 16, 2012 Warren rated it really liked it · review of another edition

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Oct 02, 2009 Joeji rated it liked it · review of another edition

As a field organizer on the ground for Obama, I was excited to pick up a book about the stories I missed (sometimes you're just more concerned with everything right in front of you). I did not learn anything new from Wolffe's book, except a few anecdotes that I enjoyed. The "Barack X" chapter was particularly well handled and really contextualized Obama's thought and practice concerning race and African-American identity in the US. This book was a bit simplistic, a little too glowing, some of th ...more

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