Ep. 451 — Ben Rhodes

The Axe Files with David Axelrod

CNN

News

4.6 • 7.7K Ratings

🗓️ 8 July 2021

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ben Rhodes thought he wanted to pursue creative writing, but witnessing the 9/11 terrorist attacks as a graduate student at New York University altered his career path. He joined the 2008 Obama campaign as a speechwriter, eventually becoming deputy national security advisor for strategic communications in the Obama administration. He joined David to talk about how American foreign policy has shaped the world in the last 30 years, what he learned from traveling with Obama during and after his time in the White House, national identity, and his new book, After the Fall: Being American in the World We’ve Made.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Music
0:06.0	And now, from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN Audio, the Axfiles with
0:12.5	your host, David Axelrod.
0:15.8	I had the gift of working with Ben Rhodes for years when he worked as a national security
0:23.2	aide and speech writer to President Obama.
0:31.3	We had a great reunion of sorts the other day to talk about the traveling and thinking
0:35.1	Ben's done since and the conclusions he's drawn, which he shares so eloquently in his
0:40.5	new book After the Fall, Being American in the World We've Made.
0:45.3	Here's that conversation.
0:53.8	Ben Rhodes, my friend, it's always good to see you.
0:57.5	I relish the time we got to spend together in 2007, and eight, and nine, and ten.
1:03.6	And the last time we sat down to do one of these podcasts, you would just finish your memoir.
1:09.2	But in a way, this new book that you've written, After the Fall, Being American in the World
1:14.5	We've Made, is an even more authentic kind of search for yourself, for an honest assessment
1:22.8	of who we are.
1:24.2	And weirdly, for a guy who traveled for eight years relentlessly, you decided to travel
1:29.2	in order to figure this all out.
1:32.1	So talk a little bit about the book and what motivated you.
1:36.0	Well, look, it's always good to talk to you.
1:38.4	Be great to see you in person like everybody else.
1:41.7	But yeah, I'm glad you picked it up.
1:44.1	It's more personal and a way than my memoir.
	...

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