Leading international advisor and close confidante of President Obama BEN RHODES takes audiences behind-the-scenes of the most pivotal political moments of the last decade, sharing intimate, candid and revelatory commentary on everything from thefuture direction of American politics toeffective messaging in today's fractured media landscape. The author of a just-released, instant bestseller The World As It Is, and named a Political Commentator to NBC News and MSNBC, Rhodes is in-demand and making headlines thanks to his no-holds-barred analysis on today's political landscape and foreign affairs.
"Ben was wonderful and generous... Everybody appreciated his acute and thoughtful answers to the many questions asked... The students who attended the Q & A were enthusiastic and the public clearly enjoyed his open presentation."
—Indiana University
"Everything went smooth as silk. Ben talked with many, many people and generated lots of follow-up conversations and thinking by faculty and students — that’s just what we want."
Starting out at just 29 years-old as a senior speechwriter and foreign policy advisor on Obama's campaign to walking out of the White House on the President's last day in office, for nearly ten years Rhodes saw almost everything that happened at the center of the Obama administration. Starting as a speechwriter, then as deputy national security advisor, and finally as a multipurpose aide and close collaborator, Rhode's oversaw the administration's national security communications, public diplomacy, and global engagement programming. He started every morning in the Oval Office with the President’s Daily Briefing, traveled the world with Obama, and was at the center of some of the most consequential and controversial moments of the presidency, from waiting out the bin Laden raid and reaching a nuclear agreement with Iran, to leading secret negotiations with the Cuban government and the lead-up and aftermath of the 2016 presidential election. In The World as It Is, Rhodes reveals what it was like to be there.
“A page-turning, unfiltered, altogether human look at Barack Obama’s presidency... Insightful, funny, and moving, this is a beautifully observed, essential record of what it was like to be there.”
—SAMANTHA POWER, Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
"This stylish, beautifully written political memoir reminds us that the local and the universal are intimately braided... In this meditation on storytelling and power, Rhodes helps make sense of the bewildering times we currently inhabit...”
—COLUM MCCANN, National Book Award-winning author
“Ben Rhodes is one of the most brilliant minds and powerful storytellers I’ve ever known. In The World as It Is, he doesn’t just bring you inside the room for the key moments of Obama’s presidency, he captivates you with the journey of an idealistic young staffer who becomes the president’s close friend and advisor—a journey that both cynics and believers will find riveting and hopeful.”
—JON FAVREU, Host of Pod Save America and Former Director of Speechwriting for President Obama
As The New Yorker wrote in its exceptional book review: "More than any other White House memoirist, Rhodes is a creature of the man he served... This is the closest view of Obama we’re likely to get until he publishes his own memoir."
Rhodes is set to discussThe World as It Is and offer an unvarnished look inside the Obama presidency with Ambassador Samantha Powers at the 92Y.
Sought-out to address an audience of 1,200 senior executives of national and international chambers of commerce, presidents and business managers, at the Confecamaras Annual Congress, delivering a keynote on global communication strategy.
Featured in the critically acclaimed documentary The Final Year, a unique insider's account of President Obama's foreign policy team during their last year in office.
A dynamic speaker who is heralded for delivering substantive, actionable, commentary Ben Rhodes is an in-demand voice on how to navigate today's media environment and the leading political issues of our times.
