Why Is Obama Out in the Media Again

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) speaks to a crowd gathered on the lawn of the erstwhile State Uppercase Building as his wife, Michelle, and daughters Malia (2nd-L), 8 and Sasha, 4, expect on Feb. x, 2007 in Springfield, Illinois. Obama announced to the crowd that he would seek the Autonomous nomination for president.

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WASHINGTON — Thursday marks 15 years since Barack Obama officially kicked off his first presidential campaign on the steps of the Quondam Land Capitol in Springfield.

February. 10, 2007.

Information technology was a long day. Started in Springfield. Ended after rallies in Cedar Rapids and Waterloo, Iowa, the land with the 2008 kickoff presidential caucus.

The night before, Sen. Barack Obama, wife Michelle and others in their entourage arrived at the hotel around 10 p.grand. A smiling Emil Jones — the country Senate president who had mentored Obama when he was a state senator — was wearing a black T-shirt with a flick of Obama superimposed on the Quondam Land Capitol.

The metropolis was chosen considering of its symbolism. Springfield was where Obama — and Abraham Lincoln — started their political careers.

The Sometime Land House was the obvious site for the man on a quest to be the nation'south first Black president. It was the location of Lincoln's famous "a house divided confronting itself cannot stand" speech in 1858 denouncing slavery.

It was frigid cold that morning. Before Obama spoke I was on the MSNBC set exterior the Former State Business firm, offer analysis along with Chris Matthews and Howard Fineman.

Frozen to the bone, I took refuge in the within press file center overseen past a new young Obama staffer, Samantha Tubman, the deputy to the printing atomic number 82, who joined the campaign a few weeks earlier and was detailed to Springfield for the annunciation.

Obama made his archway to "City of Blinding Lights," the U2 striking that would be — and is to this day — his signature walk-out song.

Obama in his spoken communication talked about how there was "a certain audacity" to the freshman senator making a bid for the White House.

"I know that I haven't spent a lot of fourth dimension learning the ways of Washington. But I've been there long enough to know the ways of Washington must change," he said.

"And that is why, in the shadow of the Former Land Capitol, where Lincoln once called on a business firm divided to stand together, where common hopes and common dreams still live, I stand before you this twenty-four hours to denote my candidacy for president of the Us of America."

Obama's "promise" and "modify" campaign slogans suggested that, every bit president, he could create some permanent transformation.

That was not to be.

President Donald Trump followed Obama's ii terms, with his political rise fueled by his Obama birther lies.

Trump's divisiveness, lies and norm-breaking cocky-dealing led to two impeachments and the current threat to our democracy stemming from his attempts to overturn the 2022 ballot.

At the time, even so, the goal of the speech was to get Obama elected, and those words struck political aureate, setting the phase for his victory.

Soon subsequently the oral communication, the 57 journalists in the Obama traveling press corps were hustled to a waiting jet to wing to Iowa. His Waterloo rally lasted till effectually ten p.m.

Afterward clinching the nomination, Obama returned to the One-time State Capitol on Aug. 23, 2008, with Joe and Jill Biden, to announce that the Delaware senator would be his running mate.

Obama volition spend Th in his native Hawaii. He is edifice a house there, his 4th residence. The Obamas' have homes in Chicago, D.C. and Martha's Vineyard.

In a virtual session with House Democrats, he will take a conversation with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The Obamas direct oversee three operations: their joint personal role in D.C.; the Obama Foundation based in Chicago; and in Hollywood, Higher Ground Productions, a partnership with Netflix.

When I talked to Tubman on Wed, she remembered how "y'all could hear a pin drop" when Obama spoke that 24-hour interval.

Like many alums of the Obama campaigns and administration, Tubman's life trajectory changed the day she joined the campaign.

The Obama Foundation on Th will be highlighting some stories of other Obama alums.

Tubman landed in Michelle Obama's White Firm social office, so moved to the State Department protocol part. Later serving in the administration for the full eight years, in the post-presidency, she joined the Obama Foundation.

In 2021, she moved to Los Angeles. She'due south now in the L.A. Lakers forepart function, equally chief of staff for basketball game operations.

I asked how she landed in Fifty.A., which led to some other Obama alum story.

Joe Paulsen worked on the Obama announcement tour and was also in the White House all viii years in various posts, including being Obama's "body man."

In the Obama post-presidency, Paulsen was Obama's deputy chief of staff in his personal office, where ane of his jobs was to oversee Higher Ground. In 2021, he moved to Los Angeles to become one of its tiptop executives.

And Tubman and Paulsen — they're engaged.

Who knew 15 years ago where that day in Springfield would pb.

FOOTNOTE: Obama volition exist in Chicago on March 10 to headline the Chicago Council on Global Diplomacy' Centennial Commemoration.

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Source: https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2022/2/9/22926440/barack-obama-kicked-off-presidential-campaign-15-years-ago-springfield-look-back-forward

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