Obama Reads - The Breakthrough

"Obama Reads" is the second in a series of reviews of books about Barack Obama and his politics. The first review was on How Obama Won by Chuck Todd.

The Breakthrough:Politics and Race in the Age of Obama
by Gwen Ifill
Doubleday
288 pages
$24.95

Early in the new year, Gwen Ifill - PBS senior correspondent for The News Hour, and managing editor and moderator of Washington Week, published The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.

Interestingly, the book received some advanced, unintended publicity a couple days before the vice presidential debate. Ifill was preparing to moderate the debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden when some Republicans called for Ifill to basically "recuse" herself. Because her book had Obama as one of the principle topics, McCain supporters believed Ifill would not maintain her journalistic distance and asked her to removed herself from her role in the debate.

As history demonstrated, the Republicans had little to fear from Ifill because she did her job professionally and maintained her neutrality. Sarah Palin, though, posed a much greater threat to the McCain campaign than any reporter could.

The Breakthrough is Ifill's analysis of contemporary African American politics, which have developed a new identity and M.O. in recent years. The book is based on her long-term observations, as well as interviews she completed with significant African American politicians.

The structure of this book creates helpful alternating tones. The author focuses on current trends and themes in African American politics. She alternates her thematic chapters, however, by delving deeply into the political stories of several prominent African Americans:

• Barack Obama (U.S. President)
• Artur Davis (U.S. Representative from Alabama)
• Cory Booker (Mayor of Newark, NJ)
• Deval Patrick (Governor of Massachusetts).

The themes Ifill analyzes are:

• Breaking Through: How African Americans have become increasingly successful, especially in elections where the majority is not African American
• The Generational Divide: How the younger generation of politicians has bucked the African American norm by not "waiting their turn" to run. Ifill identifies different tactics used today compared to those of politicians who came out of the the civil rights movement.
• The Race-Gender Clash : Ifill investigates tension that arose during the democratic primary of Obama v. Clinton. She clearly explains that the race-gender line was complex and constantly shifting - which of course added to the confusion and complexity for all concerned.
• Legacy Politics: The author discusses the relatively new phenomenon of the inheritance of power among African Americans. She focuses especially on the Jackson of Illinois, the Fords of Tennessee, and the Clays of Missouri to look below the surface of how this political power exchange has developed.
• The Politics of Identity: "Is he black enough?" This is the question that haunted Barack Obama early in his campaign. Ifill thoroughly explains why such a question might be asked. She covers physical (skin color), linguistic (how a politician talks), cultural (how a politician acts), and political ("What will s/he do for us?") attributes in looking at the subtleties of how current African American candidates walk the treacherous tight-rope of racial identity.
• The Next Wave- Ifill quickly discusses a range of young, up-and-coming black politicians who hold a wide range of local and state positions. A few examples are : San Francisco D.A. Kamala Harris, California State Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.

In addition to Ifill's useful structure, she included the metaphor of "sandpaper," which helped me internalize and remember her concepts. "Sandpaper," as in "sandpaper politics" or "sandpaper moments," was used to explain the tension or discomfort that existed between traditional allies, such as younger and older generations of African Americans. The outcome of the application of such "sandpaper" may ultimately lead to a transformation in perception and/or behavior - a new reality, if you will - becoming a new political M.O.

I highly recommend The Breakthrough. It is a must read for anyone who wishes to to gain a clearer understanding of today's new generation of African American politics, which, in fact, is increasingly making itself a powerful, central dynamic in American politics as a whole.