Book Review of The Breakthrough by Gwen Ifill

"Two Sheets to the Wind" by Frederic Whiting

E-Word Journal Book Review of

The Breakthrough
Race and Politics in the Age of Obama
Written by Gwen Ifill
DoubleDay 2009. ISBN 978-0-385-52501-5

For students of major political events and contemporary American history, Gwen Ifill’s new book, The Breakthrough, Race and Politics in the Age of Obama, provides an invaluable behind the scenes view of the Obama candidacy at critical junctures of his historic presidential campaign, while offering important new insights into political trends ushering a new generation of African American politicians into power.

In years to come, as political pundits and historians scramble and sift to explain the conditions of American political life in this era, which produced the nations first president of  African American descent, many undoubtedly will be forced to turn to Ifill’s book, as a key starting point. For Ms. Ifill, not only has written compellingly of some key decisions by the future President and First Lady upon which the fate of this historic candidacy turned, but also sheds a generous light on the until now little remarked upon new phenomenon of- the “new breed black politician”- reflected not merely by President Barack Obama’s unprecedented success, but by others such as Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Newark’s Mayor, Corey Booker.

It is her brilliantly argued opinion that these recent political figures- now so inordinately impacting America’s  political scene- represent a second wave of African American politician who though directly descending from the 1960’s incarnation born of the civil rights era, is a creature, whose vision reflects a sharp point of departure as well. She introduces us through a series of in-depth profiles of this ‘next generation” of leaders, who she also paints explicitly as a different kind and a “new breed”. Included among but by no means limited to the “core four” who are the focus of her book, are Alabama Representative Autur Davis, in addition to the others named above.

And by way of an exhaustive list of interviews with key black political and civil rights personages from across America and across generations, she conducts through the pages of The Breakthrough an extensive dialogue between the two groups for us, that they probably could not civilly conduct on their own, providing a rich array of illuminating insights.

A meticulously researched, thoughtful work, she takes the reader inside intimate conversations with civil rights icons such as Jesse Jackson Sr., Vernon Jordan, John Lewis and the Rev. Joseph Lowry, about the sharply divisive subjects of black political strategy and tactics and goals, between the politics of the older and contemporary eras. And through this literary exercise, we are provided a rarely presented candid look at the intensive intellectual search currently ongoing in African American politics about the right way forward at this pivotal juncture in our nation’s history.

The shockingly sudden rise of the political fortunes of Barack Obama to historically unprecedented heights highlighted these issues in black politics like nothing before it had, even though they had been simmering for years. And as the entire nation witnessed it play out during the 2008 Democratic Party primary season, Obama’s presidential candidacy posed a conundrum like none the black community had recently experienced- painfully dividing generations, factions, classes, as well as, many black families. However, it must be noted that many of these widely observed fissures in black politics, were abruptly healed, with the sweet elixir of Barack Obama’s resounding Nov. 4, 2008 national election night victory over Senator John McCain, symbolized best perhaps by the euphoric stream of tears captured on the face of chastened Civil Rights icon Jesse Jackson Sr., in Chicago’s Grant Park. It is a phenomenon that author Gwen Ifill would probably describe as the “Sandpaper Effect”.

It is somewhat ironic that Ms. Ifill’s work on this book became a subject of moderate controversy during the 2008 Presidential Debates as she was criticized and accused of being biased toward the Democrats by the Republican Party’s “right wing”. As memory recalls, she was the moderator for the nationally televised debate between Vice Presidential Candidates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. But this book’s focus, as she so accurately explained at the time, cannot remotely be described as being centrally about Barack Obama, other than the acknowledged fact that his political emergence as a transcendent black political figure is truly emblematic of the phenomenon of the new black politics Ifill has so expertly brought to our attention.

It is a very timely work of great worth and enduring value. And probably no one of major journalistic stature reporting on American national politics today, was better positioned and more of an authority on the subject, than Gwen Ifill to pull this off.


R. Lee Cook
November 2009

Comments

[B Andrews]

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You are growing and growing.
Great 2nd edition of the eword! The Clarion piece and this book review of G Ifill's work are well written and possess a thoughtful knowledgeable base and tenure Good work! I love the pictures too.