Talking Points

A A A Comments By Michael Leaverton Wednesday, Nov 24 2010

In the dawn of 2010, the White House battled health care, two wars, the Party of No, and a battered economy, and frequent MSNBC political commentator Richard Wolffe was there. Really. From January to March, he was in the room — probably not in every room but at least in many of them — taking notes, listening in, interviewing staff and administration officials (Rahm!), even President Barack Obama himself. His all-access pass is no surprise: The journalist trailed Obama for 21 months during the campaign, packaging the results in Renegade: The Making of a President. He's also appeared on Countdown about as often as Keith Olbermann's ire. The new book, Revival: The Struggle for Survival Inside the Obama White House, released Nov. 16, attempts to answer the question souring everyone's tongue: What happened? Or, as put by Wolffe on page seven: "How and why Obama grew detached from Change — even as he was enacting big changes — is one of the stories at the heart of this White House." Obama doesn't concede the detachment, but we do get into his head. “Thinking more about communications during that first year probably would have been important,” he tells Wolffe. Also: "I keep a diary."

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Richard Wolffe appears with Phil Bronstein.
Tue., Dec. 7, 6 p.m., 2010

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