February 11, 2009 2:03 PM
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Obama's Inner Circle Shares Inside Story
Gibbs said there wasn't a discussion.
"If there had been a discussion, we've often joked, probably most of the people in the campaign would've advised against it," Dunn added.
"The profound mistake of Reverend Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It's that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country - a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past," Obama said in his March 2008 speech on race.
"You know, it was a moment of real leadership. I think when he gave that race speech in Philadelphia, people saw a president," Plouffe said.
Obama's appeal, his message of change and a rapidly failing economy eventually helped mute concerns about race. And the enormity of Obama's grassroots field organization began to overwhelm the opposition.
It raised more $600 million, much of it from small contributors over the Internet and it recruited an army of volunteers from all walks of life - young and old, Democrats, Independents, and Republicans. And the campaign ventured beyond traditional Democratic strongholds into Republican territory.
"I also think we competed everywhere. There wasn't a state we didn't go to; regardless of its size that we didn't compete in. Caucus states and primary states," Gibbs said.
"And I think you look at that map tonight, and there are states that are blue, because of the effort that we put in a long, long time ago. And built a grassroots effort up, starting on day one. And we were ridiculed at times, for people coming out, and having crowds that were excited to see our candidate. I'm pretty sure they're not ridiculing us tonight," he added.
"We went around in June and July and people said, 'Well, what's your general election strategy?' And we laid it out. Said here are the 18 states we think are going to be battlegrounds. And Indiana and North Carolina were on there. And absolutely no one took it seriously," Dunn said.
"Particularly the McCain campaign. David's mantra for the general election was that we were gonna enlarge the playing field. And that we weren't gonna run the same campaigns that had been run in the past where it all came down to just one state, you know, at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning," she added.
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved. "If there had been a discussion, we've often joked, probably most of the people in the campaign would've advised against it," Dunn added.
"The profound mistake of Reverend Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It's that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country - a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past," Obama said in his March 2008 speech on race.
"You know, it was a moment of real leadership. I think when he gave that race speech in Philadelphia, people saw a president," Plouffe said.
Obama's appeal, his message of change and a rapidly failing economy eventually helped mute concerns about race. And the enormity of Obama's grassroots field organization began to overwhelm the opposition.
It raised more $600 million, much of it from small contributors over the Internet and it recruited an army of volunteers from all walks of life - young and old, Democrats, Independents, and Republicans. And the campaign ventured beyond traditional Democratic strongholds into Republican territory.
"I also think we competed everywhere. There wasn't a state we didn't go to; regardless of its size that we didn't compete in. Caucus states and primary states," Gibbs said.
"And I think you look at that map tonight, and there are states that are blue, because of the effort that we put in a long, long time ago. And built a grassroots effort up, starting on day one. And we were ridiculed at times, for people coming out, and having crowds that were excited to see our candidate. I'm pretty sure they're not ridiculing us tonight," he added.
"We went around in June and July and people said, 'Well, what's your general election strategy?' And we laid it out. Said here are the 18 states we think are going to be battlegrounds. And Indiana and North Carolina were on there. And absolutely no one took it seriously," Dunn said.
"Particularly the McCain campaign. David's mantra for the general election was that we were gonna enlarge the playing field. And that we weren't gonna run the same campaigns that had been run in the past where it all came down to just one state, you know, at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning," she added.
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