Making Obama
The story of former President Barack Obama’s journey from Chicago to the national stage — from advisers, rivals, and Obama himself.
Just two and a half years after his 2004 Democratic National Convention speech, Barack Obama announced he was running for president.
Barack Obama burst onto the national stage during his U.S. Senate run. Hear how ambition and luck propelled him to Washington. wbez.org/making
Former president Barack Obama has only lost one election in his life. It was in 2000, and that defeat set him on the course for his eventual U.S. Senate run. Making Obama is a production of listener-supported WBEZ Chicago. Support WBEZ and the future of podcasts like this at https://wbez.org/making
In 2000, Barack Obama ran for Congress against a Chicago political legend. It became a contest about race and identity.
Former President Barack Obama won his first political seat in 1996. Hear what he had to learn, and the conflicts he faced, to get there. wbez.org/making
When Barack Obama first came to Chicago, a political transformation was happening in the city. Hear how that change inspired him.
Before he was the 44th President, Barack Obama worked as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago. Hear how the city shaped his political ambitions.
In Case You Missed It
- Street closings, security checkpoints, tree trimming, flower planting — it’s going to start looking a lot like DNC!
- Judge wants Chicago gang kingpin Larry Hoover in court for his mercy bid
- The hope, the worry and the surreal that Illinois Black female Democratic delegates see in Kamala Harris’ moment
- As the DNC returns to Chicago, Illinois’ dean of the delegation, Dick Durbin, basks in the moment
- Democrats expect Republican leaders to send more buses of migrants to Chicago before the DNC
- Video shows sheriff’s deputy shoot and kill an unarmed woman in Springfield, Ill.
- Kamala Harris presidential campaign considering J.B. Pritzker as running mate