Making Obama: Wait Your Turn

How was President Barack Obama shaped by his years in Chicago as a community organizer turned politician?

2018 / Colin McNulty / WBEZ, USA

How was President Barack Obama shaped by his years in Chicago as a community organizer turned politician?

That’s the question at the heart of WBEZ’s podcast series Making Obama . In each episode we follow the trail of Obama's rise to the national stage, learning about all of the compelling, sometimes messy, historical context. We hear it from the people who witnessed Obama's story firsthand – Obama himself, along with 50 other friends, key advisers, colleagues and rivals.

Episode 4: Wait Your Turn tracks Obama’s 2000 run for Congress against a Chicago political legend - U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, a former Black Panther. It was Obama’s only defeat in a political campaign, and we hear how that went down.

Making Obama is a production of WBEZ Chicago. The host is Jenn White, the producer is Colin McNulty. The executive producer is Brendan Banaszak, with editing help from Kevin Dawson of Whistledown Productions.


produced by

Colin McNulty

Colin McNulty is an award-winning documentary maker and senior producer of podcasts for WBEZ, including WBEZ’s “Making” series, Making Oprah and most recently, Making Obama.


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