©David Katz 2004
Praise for Barack Before Obama
“An important document in the early years of Barack Obama’s political life.”
— PETE SOUZA, former chief official White House photographer and author of Obama: An Intimate Portrait
“One of the reasons David Katz was able to so brilliantly document Barack Obama’s meteoric rise is because the president trusted him to capture everything, from intimate family moments to backstage before the speech of a lifetime. Barack Before Obama is a thoroughly enjoyable reminder that long before the forty-fourth president stepped onto the national scene in 2004, he was a loving family man, a driven public servant, and a once-in-a-generation talent who inspired audacious hope in a country that needed it.”
— JON FAVREAU, former director of speechwriting for Barack Obama, founder of Crooked Media, and host of Pod Save America
“There was a beautiful idealism to Barack Obama’s long-shot campaign for the US Senate in 2004. David Katz captures that early journey and Obama’s inspiring run-up to the White House years in this brilliant collection of behind-the-scenes photographs.”
— DAVID AXELROD, former senior adviser to Barack Obama and author of Believer: My Forty Years in Politics
“The trust the Obamas had in David shines through in these one-of-a-kind images, which display a familiarity rarely seen in political photography. They provide a moving portrait of their extraordinary journey to the White House.”
— VALERIE JARRETT, former senior adviser to Barack Obama and author of Finding My Voice: My Journey to the West Wing and the Path Forward
“These photos document the improbable rise of Barack Obama as well as any words can. You feel like you are in the room as he moves from state senator to president of the United States.”
— DAVID PLOUFFE, former campaign manager for Barack Obama and author of The Audacity to Win
Look Inside the Book
From Barack Before Obama by David Katz. ©2020 by David Katz. Courtesy of HarperCollins Publishers
David Katz
DAVID KATZ started as one of the first ten employees on Barack Obama’s Senate campaign and spent approximately nine months driving, photographing, and serving the would-be president during the 2004 Senate campaign.
In 2008, Katz returned after graduating from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business to become the official campaign photographer, a position he held from July to November 2008. After Obama was elected president, Katz served in the Energy Department and at the White House in numerous policy roles.
He is a frequent golf partner of President Obama and now a technology executive in San Francisco.