On January 20, 2009, Barack Hussein Obama II became the 44th President of the United States and the first African American to hold the office of the Presidency.
Politics and Race in the Age of Obama by veteran American journalist/ television newscaster Gwendolyn (Gwen) Ifill, is an expose’ not only about the Obama phenomenon but also other prominent African-American politicians that constitute a prevailing cadre that is transforming American politics. Coined by Ifill as “breakthrough politicians” and part of the “Joshua generation” – according to New Yorker editor, David Remnick using Obama’s own phraseology – these men and women are beneficiaries of the civil rights movement – a movement which shifted the African-American world from denial to access. Having come from a middle-class background and attending some of America’s elitist institutions of learning, the “breakthrough politicians” became involved in politics through business as opposed to activism.
Besides Obama – who at the writing of this book was an Illinois Senator/ Presidential candidate – Ifill’s other key luminaries are Massachusetts governor, Deval Patric, Newark Mayor- Cory Booker, and Alabama Congressman Artur Davis. Ifill’s versatile scope comes to the forefront in her focus on South Carolina State Representative Bakari Sellers and Atlanta City Council President, Lisa Borders – African-American elected officials on the local and state level that are less well known. Although Obama may be at the forefront and the most visible, he is not in a league of his own Ifill argues. Coupled with these incisive and detailed profiles are exclusive interviews with former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Vernon Jordan – advisor to former President Bill Clinton, the Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, and Congressman Jesse L. Jackson Jr., along with a host of other power brokers in American politics. Issues such as the race/ gender clash, generational conflict, and “black enough” conundrum are delved into as well.
The Breakthrough provides a unique commentary on contemporary and future politics in America. Becoming a part of the mainstream political infrastructure while at the same time maintaining ties with the black political establishment, is the twofold challenge confronting this new generation of African American politicians. They are forging a bold new path to political power – a power rooted in the crossover concept in which appealing to whites while not alienating blacks work in conjunction. Obama’s decisive usage of this “race-neutral strategy” catapulted him to the Presidency. Ifill does not naively dismiss race as a key factor but rather contends that it did not augur the impact people thought it would. Furthermore, she asserts that the policy implications of the breakthrough politicians are potentially vast in that they depend on pragmatic political coalitions as opposed to racial solidarity. Ifill writes that the breakthrough politicians “subscribe to a formula-driven as much by demographics as by destiny. When population shifts occur — brought about by fair housing laws, affirmative action and landmark school desegregation rulings — political power is challenged as well (Ifill 2009).”
Gwen Ifill (born September 29, 1955) is managing editor and moderator for PBS’s Washington Week as well as a senior correspondent for The News Hour with Jim Lehrer (PBS). She also worked for The Washington Post and The New York Times. Ifill moderated the 2004 and 2008 Vice Presidential debates and appears routinely on NBC’s Meet the Press. The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama, Ifill’s first book, was released on January 20, 2009 – Inauguration Day. The Breakthrough is part of an avalanche of books addressing the Obama age, its impact, and how this new Joshua generation has become an indelible force in a new era of American politics.