It seems a bit hard to believe, but it has been almost a decade since Barack Obama left office in January of 2017, and almost two decades since he officially launched his campaign in February 2007. It goes without saying that in those past few years, a lot has gone down: three presidential elections, a global pandemic, a land war in Europe, and multiple wars across the Middle East, to name just a few developments.
This passage of time also gives us a chance to reflect on the legacy and significance of Obama’s presidency. As part of its Presidential Oral History Program, the Miller Center convened a group of former Obama officials this Wednesday to provide insights into those reflections.
The panel was opened by William Antholis, who serves as director and CEO of the Miller Center, and moderated by Barbara Perry, who serves as Co-Chair of the Presidential Oral History Program. The panelists included Shaun Donovan, who served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and later as Director of the Office of Management and Budget during Obama’s presidency; Chris Lu, who served as Obama’s White House Cabinet Secretary and later as Deputy Secretary of Labor; and Tom Perez, who served as Obama’s Secretary of Labor and later as Chair of the Democratic National Committee.
Perry began the panel by playing a clip from an interview with Melody Barnes, Executive Director of the Karsh Institute and Obama’s former Director of the Domestic Policy Council, discussing the story of two elderly African American voters who received assistance in voting during the 2008 Presidential Election. She then asked the panelists about the first time they heard about Barack Obama.
Lu knew Obama earliest, having attended law school with him, and remembered him as being incredibly talented. Perez remembered seeing him deliver his speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and being inspired by it. Donovan stated that he first heard of Obama in 1991, when a friend of his, who had recently been elected President of the Harvard Law Review, lamented that his opening address to the Harvard Law class would be completely overshadowed by the closing address of the Law Review’s previous president: Barack Obama.
Perry then asked the panelists to give some reflections on Obama’s presidential campaign. Lu noted that he joined Obama’s senate staff early on, assuming that he wouldn’t run for president for a while, if at all. Eventually, however, a series of coincidences — and deliberate efforts — such as Obama’s book release coinciding with the 2006 midterms, led many to believe that Obama was the candidate most suited for the moment.
Perez noted the impressiveness of Obama winning in Iowa, a state with one of the smallest African American populations in the country, attributing his success to his ability to organize at the grassroots level. Donovan reflected on Obama’s ability to connect with young people during his campaign. The first person in his family to express support for Obama, he noted, was his 9-year-old son.
A significant portion of the conversation related to the Obama team’s response to the 2008 financial crisis, both during and after the election. Donovan called attention to the fact that much of the financial crisis was rooted in housing policy, and noted the Obama campaign’s efforts to create a plan to deal with this crisis on a very short time schedule during the campaign. Lu discussed the necessity of a smooth presidential transition at that point in time, making note of the joint effort by the Bush White House and the Obama and McCain campaigns to keep the economy running in time for the new president to take office.
The panelists also reflected on their memories of Election Day and the inauguration. Lu recounted having the chance to walk through the mostly empty halls of the White House on Inauguration Day, many staff having not yet entered. Donovan remembered his emotions on both Election Day and Inauguration Day, recalling being next to John Lewis at the Inauguration Day brunch and witnessing Obama personally thank Lewis for his efforts. Perez recounted the positive influence Obama’s conduct during this time had on his own children, and noted the huge scope of the celebrations on those days.
For her final question, Perry asked the panelists if, looking back, there was something they wished they or the administration had done differently. Lu expressed his regret that Democrats had assumed their mandate would last longer than it actually did, resulting in their failure to get much major legislation passed in the first two years besides the Affordable Care Act. Perez noted the failure of Congress to pass an immigration reform bill in 2014 due to an unfortunate string of delays, calling attention to the current policies of the Trump administration with regards to immigration. Donovan stated that he should have gone harder against critics of the administration’s housing policies. While he argued they did much good, there was much, in his view, that could have been done better.
Ultimately, there is no way to go back and change any of these perceived mistakes. Still, it is essential to reflect on these years, for a great deal of what happened within them can teach us about the political situation today — a fact that, unfortunately, is easier to address in retrospect than in real time.
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