By the People Is “a Defining Record of the Winning Presidential Campaign,” Says Politico
In a feature called “Film Gives Glimpse of Real Obama,” the influential Politico reporter Ben Smith writes that By the People “represents a rare glimpse behind the curtain of discipline and discretion that surrounded the Obama campaign—a glimpse that came even though some highly placed campaign operatives feared the presence of cameras in their midst.”
He continues:
It’s this cycle’s version of “The War Room” or “Journeys With George”—a political documentary whose unparalleled access will make it a defining record of the winning presidential campaign. Its creation is all the more remarkable because the “no drama” ethos of Obama’s campaign aides normally entailed closing the campaign’s strategy and internal politics to the political press and vetoing an array of documentary projects.
Smith’s piece includes details about the off-camera maneuvering of the filmmakers, including one of the co-producers, actor Edward Norton. Early in Obama’s candidacy, strategist David Axelrod became increasingly worried about the filmmakers’ intrusion into the campaign’s daily routines. At one point, Smith writes, Axelrod actually killed the project. But with some prodding from Norton and director/producers Amy Rice and Alicia Sams, Axelrod changed his mind. The campaign gradually became more and more comfortable with having Rice and Sims’s cameras around. Lucky for the rest of us—because the cameras captured a side of the campaign that was almost entirely hidden from the public.
Read Ben Smith’s piece at Politico.com.
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