Reggie Love was Barack Obama’s body man: the guy who carried the cases and straightened the schedules. His biography was timed to come out toward the end of the President’s time in office. It’s a worthy read: full of homespun wisdom and gentle puff PR.
The upside? It’s a reaffirmation that everything is possible. A young black man learning life lessons from both the basketball court and the leader of the free world.
If you’re expecting insights into the 2008 campaign, forget it. No new ground here, except for the revelation that Senator Clinton had a meltdown moment and “exploded on Obama” in December 2007, after he pointed out that her camp had been sending emails labelling him a Muslim.
“Before he could finish his sentence, she exploded on Obama. In a matter of seconds, she went from composed to furious. It had not been Obama’s intention to upset her, but he wasn’t going to play the fool either. To all of us watching the spat unfold, it was an obvious turning point in our campaign, and we knew it…Her inevitability had been questioned.”
Love links this incident to the Des Moines debate, where Obama was asked “how he could claim to be an agent of change when he had so many former Clinton advisors on his foreign policy team.”
Clinton “snorted and muttered” indicating that she was keen to hear his reply.
“Well, Hillary, I’m looking forward to you advising me as well.”
And that’s how history unfolded.
