Plouffe The Magic Delawarean

Few members of the Obama for America team refrained from trying to join the Obama White House, but campaign manager David Plouffe was one of them.

Excerpts of Plouffe's new book about the campaign, The Audacity to Win, were published this morning by Time.com.

Some choice excerpts include discussions on the Rev. Jeremiah Wright story, which broke around the same time as some questions about then-Sen. Obama's dealings with crooked Chicago financier Tony Rezko.

"It was chaos and, quite frankly, frightening. I felt as if the wheels could easily spin off our whole venture. Still, Obama was the pillar of reassurance. 'Don't worry, guys,' he told us while making some notes on a stack of pages. 'I can do more than one thing at a time. We are taking the trash out today. It won't be fun, but we'll be stronger for it'"

Plouffe's objective analysis: "Obama handled everything with brilliance. The editorial boards, though grueling, went well. Obama called me after 11 that night, while my wife and son were sleeping. 'So we survived. But it feels really unsatisfying — to me and I'm sure to voters … I think I need to give a speech on race and how Wright fits into that. Whether people will accept it or not, I don't know. But I don't think we can move forward until I try.'"

Obama already discussed with Plouffe and senior adviser David Axelrod the notion of giving a speech on race. They had "strenuously disagreed, believing that we should not inject into the campaign an issue that for the most part was not on voters' minds. Now we were in a much different situation"

Said Obama: "I don't want a big meeting or conference call on this. You and Ax and I will arbitrate this. But know this is what I think I need to do, so I'll need an awfully compelling argument not to give this speech. And I think it needs to be delivered in the early part of next week and I need to write most of it."

Later Plouffe told Ax: "He really wants to give this speech. And I don't have a better idea. Do you?"

"Nope," said Ax.

**

Veepstakes: Why Not Hillary?

Plouffe reveals "that Obama was clearly thinking more seriously about picking Hillary Clinton than Ax and I had realized. He said if his central criterion measured who could be the best VP, she had to be included in that list. She was competent, could help in Congress, would have international bona fides and had been through this before, albeit in a different role. He wanted to continue discussing her as we moved forward."

Obama told them: "I still think Hillary has a lot of what I am looking for in a VP. Smarts, discipline, steadfastness. I think Bill may be too big a complication. If I picked her, my concern is that there would be more than two of us in the relationship."

Eventually the list was culled down to three: Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana and Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia. "Hillary did not make the last cut. At the end of the day, Obama decided that there were just too many complications outweighing the potential strengths. But I gave him a lot of credit for so seriously thinking about his fierce former rival. Some in the Clinton orbit thought we gave Hillary short shrift. My view is that any serious consideration was somewhat surprising given all the complications and the toxicity during the primary campaign."

Plouffe and Axelrod met with Biden, who began by "launching into a nearly 20-minute monologue that ranged from the strength of our campaign in Iowa ('I literally wouldn't have run if I knew the steamroller you guys would put together'); to his evolving views of Obama ('I wasn't sure about him in the beginning of the campaign, but I am now'); why he didn't want to be VP ('The last thing I should do is VP; after 36 years of being the top dog, it will be hard to be No. 2'); why he was a good choice ('But I would be a good soldier and could provide real value, domestically and internationally'); and everything else under the sun. Ax and I couldn't get a word in edgewise.

"It confirmed what we suspected: this dog could not be taught new tricks. But the conversation also confirmed our positive assumptions: his firm grasp of issues, his blue collar sensibilities and the fact that while he would readily accept the VP slot if offered, he was not pining for it.

"Later that day, we met with the two other finalists. Bayh's answers to our questions were substantively close to perfect, if cautiously so. Seeing Bayh right after Biden provided some interesting contrasts and comparisons. Listening to Bayh talk, I thought, There's no way this guy will color outside the lines. Biden may cross them with too much frequency. Biden will probably end up having more range — he can reach higher heights but could cause us real pain. Bayh's upside and downside are probably the closest spread of the three. As the day grew long, we headed to Richmond, our last stop. We appreciated [Kaine's] opening remarks. 'I'd be honored to be picked,' he told us. 'But I have to assume I'm at the bottom of the list right now. I'll try to explain why I think I'd be a good pick, both for the campaign and after we win, but just know that I won't have an ounce of hard feelings or disappointment if I don't get picked. I signed on to this team in the beginning — all I want is for Barack to be elected President.'

"There was no great way to explain putting someone with no foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency. If we chose him, we would need to rely on some of the same language we had used on this issue as it related to Obama — judgment vs. Washington experience, a new foreign policy vision vs. the status quo — but doubling down would make it twice as tough for us to roll this boulder uphill."

Axelrod and Plouffe briefed Obama.

"Well, it sounds like you both are for Biden, but barely," he said. "I really haven't settled this yet in my own mind. It's a coin toss now between Bayh and Biden, but Kaine is still a distinct possibility. I know the experience attack people will make if we pick him. But if that really concerned me, I wouldn't have run in the first place. My sense is — and you tell me if the research backs this up — that Barack Hussein Obama is change enough for people. I don't have to convince people with my VP selection that I am serious about change."

**

The Palin Pick

Plouffe writes that he thought Sen. John McCain's pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was "a downright bizarre, ill-considered and deeply puzzling choice. The one thing every voter knew about John McCain's campaign at this point was that it had been shouting from the rooftops that Barack Obama lacked the experience to be President. With the Palin pick, he had completely undermined his core argument against us. Worse yet for McCain, he would look inherently political in doing so. His strength — and the threat he posed to us — was rooted in the fact that many independent voters believed in his maverick reputation and believed he did not make his decisions by prioritizing politics over what was right. I guessed people would view this choice more as a political stunt than a sound, reasoned call."

Adviser Anita Dunn worked against Palin in Alaska in the 2006 governor's race. She warned the Obama campaign that Palin "was a formidable political talent — clearly not up to this moment, she assured us, but bound to be a compelling player and a real headliner in the weeks ahead. 'All of you on this call
should watch video of her debates and speeches,' Dunn counseled. 'The substance is thin, but she's a very able performer. And her story is out of Hollywood. She'll be a phenomenon for a while.'

The Obama campaign immediately began to attack her experience.

"Our statement immediately received an enormous amount of attention because it went right at her experience. The press clearly sensed heat and was eager to help drive the fight. Seeing the reaction, I began to think perhaps we had misfired. Obama clearly thought so. He called me from the air. 'Listen, I just told this to Axelrod and [communications director Robert] Gibbs,' he began. 'I understand the argument you guys were trying to make. And maybe we should make it someday. But not today. We shouldn't have put out the first part of that statement. I want to put out another statement that simply welcomes her to the race, and I'll call her and congratulate her when I land.'"

When Obama was asked about the initial statement contradicting the later more reasoned one, he said, "I think that, you know, campaigns start getting these hair triggers, and the statement that Joe and I put out reflects our sentiments."

Later Obama told Plouffe: "I just don't understand how this ends up working out for McCain. In the long term, I mean. The short term will be good for them. But when voters step back and analyze how he made this decision, I think he's going to be in big trouble. You just can't wing something like this — it's too important."

"I think we just need to sit back and play our game," said Obama. "It actually won't be bad to be off-Broadway for a few days. We should just leave her out of the equation. This is a race between John McCain and me. To the extent we talk about Palin, I think it should be about the differences in our selection processes — it illuminates differences in how we'd make decisions in the White House."

- jpt