Wednesday, November 25, 2009
After winning the election on November 4, 2008, President-elect Barack Obama thanked David Plouffe in his acceptance speech, calling him “the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the … best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of America.” Plouffe discusses the campaign and Obama’s journey to the White House as chronicled in his new book, The Audacity to Win: The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama’s Historic Victory. Then, Max Cleland came back from Vietnam missing three limbs and confined to a wheelchair. He thought his life was over until he started a career in public service. President Jimmy Carter appointed Cleland head of the Veterans Administration and, years later, he was elected to the United States Senate. After losing a particularly dirty re-election campaign, Cleland sank into a deep depression. The former Senator writes about his struggles in a new book titled Heart of a Patriot: How I Found the Courage to Survive Vietnam, Walter Reed and Karl Rove.