Haynes Johnson has covered every U.S. president since Dwight  Eisenhower. He has written dispatches detailing the anxiety caused by McCarthyism, the strife of the Civil Rights-era South, the Reagan Revolution and the prosperity of the Clinton years.

But three years ago, Johnson, a Pulitzer-winning Washington Post columnist-turned-university professor, and former colleague Dan Balz foresaw the “the most important election of their lifetimes” approaching in 2008.

Everyone knows the story from there: Barack Obama overcomes incredible odds to upset Hillary Clinton before toppling John McCain to become the nation’s first black president But as Johnson and co-author Balz reveal in their new book The Battle for America 2008: The Story of an Extraordinary Election untold tales loom behind one of the most covered, most discussed, most analyzed elections in American history.

The book hit stores two weeks ago and last week made the New York Times best-seller list. Johnson, 78, spoke with The Diamondback on Tuesday.

The Diamondback: You asked President Obama how he would spin the story of the 2008 election, and he said, “The way I would tell the story would really have to do with what this campaign said about America and where we’ve traveled.” What do you think this campaign revealed about our country?

Johnson: Well, the first thing obviously is that for the first time in our history, we elected an African American. The idea of that happening with someone with so little experience and background, the least resumé of any major presidential candidate in my lifetime, said a great deal about the country. We were ready to move on beyond race. It doesn’t mean that prejudice is diminished; it doesn’t mean that racism has been extinguished, but it meant that the country has reached a huge change in just the period of 10, 20, 30 years. … No matter what happens in Obama’s presidency, he’ll always be seen as a first and as a proud moment for the country.

DBK: For those of us that think that we’ve seen and heard it all when it comes to Election 2008, what are some of the stories your book has to offer?

HJ: There were all kinds of memoranda. I think the most striking one that’s gotten a lot of attention comes from David Axelrod, Obama’s chief strategist. In 2006, before Obama had even decided to run, Axelrod had wrote this incredible, prescient memo saying, “Look, the time is right for you: You’ll never be hotter than you are right now, candidates wait too long to run,” etc., etc. And he was right about that. But then he also said that the question is — and he was very tough and very blunt about what he saw as Obama’s weaknesses — he said, “I wonder if you are someone that can take a punch. You care too much about criticism. You don’t take criticism well. You care about what people say about you. Are you tough enough to sustain a candidacy?” This is a remarkable memo. It’s going to be studied for years to come.

DBK: To what extent do you think some of Axelrod’s criticisms have come to fruition in his eight months as president?

HJ: I think it’s too early to tell about that. It’s not a question of whether Obama can take a punch. He sustained enormous criticism during the campaign. He proved he could take it. So the concerns that Axelrod had, that he warned Obama against, he proved himself in the campaign, and I think he’s proving himself now. There is a question of whether he’s been strong enough in fighting for what he believes in, like health care. But I’m not sure that’s fair, that’s an incredibly complicated and difficult fight to begin with, so we’ll have to see, and we don’t know what the outcome is going to be yet.

DBK: Do you think any moments from the campaign may shed light on how Obama is dealing with the issue?

HJ: Early on in the campaign, he was not really effective as a candidate. One forgets the early primary stuff. There was a big debate, a Democratic debate on health care, and Obama was terrible. He didn’t have a plan. He wasn’t ready. He wasn’t composed. Hillary obviously knew her stuff. She had a plan. She was talking with great eloquence about what needed to be done. And Obama recognized it — it killed him. He recognized that she was clearly superior on that issue as far as what to do about it. He got much better, so by the end of the campaign, basically there was very little difference between the two of them.

slivnick@umdbk.com