nabby passed away in 1814 after a lengthy battle with breast cancer. abigail herself survived several illnesses but continued to enjoy life in quincy especially when her children and grandchildren joined her. she and join remained pillars of the community. in the fall of 1818 however, she became dangerously sick five feed fever. on october 28th, in the early afternoon she died. john was with her at the end. he wrote of her passing to his son, john quincy. >> quincy, november 10th, 1818. my ever dear, ever affect gnat, ever dutiful and deserving son, the bitterness of death is passed. the grim specter so terrible to human nature has no sting left for me.

my consolations are more than i can number. the separation can not be so long as 20 separations heretofore. the pangs and anguish have not been so great as when you and i embarked for france in 1778. the sympathy and benevolence of all the world has been such as i shall not live long enough to describe. i have not strength to do just tis to -- justice to individuals. your letter from the 2nd is, and no more than all that i expected. never was a more dutiful son, never a more affect gnat mother, love to your wife. may you never experience her loss, so prays your aged and afflicted father.

>> john joined abigail on july 4th, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the american independence they had labored long together and apart to create. [applause] >> my dearest friend, letters of abigail and john adams this event was hosted by the massachusetts historical society. to find out more, visit masshist.org.

>> jabari asim, editor-in-chief of the nape nape magazine, the crisis and contributor to the "washington post", analyzes rise of barack obama from cult ral and political and econom perspectives. it event hosted by harold washington library center it in chicago is an hour and a half. >> such a pleasure to be here this evening and like to start by thank you for being here and thank you, jabari, for being here. your book is titled, what obama means for our culture, our, politics, our future. i would like you to define our. to whom are you referring? >> i'm actually talking about all americans. i mean there are things in the book i think that sort of address the particular interest and questions involving african-americans

but i really had a wider audience in mind which seemed appropriate in terms of the thrust of obama's campaign and his message. so i meant the country collectively. >> you, in the book you talk a lot about image obama's impact on young black men. so do you, so talk a bit about that. >> well, i tried to place him in context in terms of images of black masculinety that we've seen in the culture since about 1619 when african-american men first set foot on the continent. i tried to place him in that context. i discuss certain aspects of what his public reputation became involving the coolness, for example. i pointed to a number of articles that pointed out obama's coolness. described him as cool. so i compared that to some of the earlier images of african-american men who were perceived as cool? >> names?

>> sidney poitier. especially jazz musicians of the 1950s who were iconic figures. particularly on blue note album covers for example. one of the interesting things about those jazz musicians. they had swagger. >> right. >> they had an element of sexual attraction, at the same time they were acknowledged as intellectuals, as gifted artists. so in that respect this image of black cool has sort of come full circle now because obama has contributed in that same way. added an element of intellectual potency to the image. >> chapter, what cool can do, that group of artists and musicians you were just talking about you said conveyed an image of black men as stylish, cerebral and undeniably masculine. so obama as cool, it takes him a few levels, defines him a little differently. you also talk about him in terms of the magic negro, right? there is cool, there is

intersection there, right? >> he seems to be sensitive to that. >> define magic negro? >> magic negro is a character that exists in a film or story. an african-american character, exists to advance the aims or goals or the life story of a white character in some way. usually to help the white man get the job he has always wanted or to get the woman he has always wanted and the african-american character lacks those same aspects in his own life. we don't find out what he is like at home. >> so he doesn't necessarily have a past, right? kind of one dimensional figure? >> right. i wrestle with that image because the magic negro, as far as i could trace it was mentioned in print by rita kemply in "washington post." she is a white critic. i didn't think she went back far enough. i thought the anti-seed dents in literature. it became relevant in the

campaign. -- >> he is part jewish. >> criticism of some of the responses didn't seem to acknowledge. that he considered himself as african-american. he wrote about obama as a context of magic negro. made some good points i thought. rush limbaugh and some others jumped on that and parodied it and original arguments were lost in the that particular discussion. >> but obama has been able to, transcend even that, the magic negro, into this coolness and you, talk about how the culture evolved to embrace a black man, so there were people who came before obama. you mentioned michael jordan, michael jackson. talk a bit about. >> right. well the shorthand i say is that, mainstream americans had accept the idea of african-americans as leading men before they could embrace the notion of them as leaders of men. and, when i went back and began to look at certain african-american musical

figures who managed to attract white audiences i was startled by the similarity in language when i looked at critics who reviewed, jimi hendrix for example, or sly stone. if you took out their names, it would appear they were talking about obama. they used terms as racial healer. someone who could reconcile the racial tensions different groups felt and bring them together. so in some respects there have always been african-american men who played the role played it well. >> talk about, i said it was interesting. right after, the election. maybe a couple of days guess who is coming to dinner, it was on some channel, i fixated on it. i had seen it before as a younger person but, it was kind of interesting to me the parallels, some of the discussions that were talked about in the movie, they were resonating and they had come from some of the discussions we had during the election and you mentioned the movie in your book. >> that's one of the most fun things about doing what i do.

you yourself a cultural critic. you have an excuse to do all kind of fun things. i watched all the sidney poitier movies for one thing. he plays a character in the movie, similar to barack obama senior. he is, very well-educated. he has, humanitarian aims. he wants to go to africa, just like barack obama senior. he met the white woman in hawaii. right. that he has fallen in live with and there is a key scene where her father, sort of quiz him. what about your children, what would the world be like for your children. she says she thinks everyone of our children will be president the united states. it is kind of eerie in some ways which the movie prefigured it. at the same time the movie discusses say, interracial relationships and makes reference to the fact that they could be arrested for type of marriage. it was 1967. that is when loving versus virginia made interracial marriage legal. at the same time we're beginning to see these changes in society that ultimately lead where we are

today. >> you talk about prince and the parallels between prince. is he called prince these days? >> yes. >> i know. he is one of those musicians constantly changing his name but talk a bit about the whole, the movie, "purple rain." got me think, oh my goodness, jabari, we're contemporaris. >> i talk about the fictional con you can, the figures al aspect of that biracial construct of prince created. some of the reviews in my book and mentioned and described prince as biracial person which i don't do in the book. i'm talking about a figuresal story. >> is he indeed racial? >> no. but i think it was very calculated on its parts in his lyrics which he negotiate this is idea of an ambiguous racial identity. >> identity in general right? >> yes. >> he is talks sexuality

and -- >> very fluid in terms of personal identity but in terms of audiences that heing a aggressively courted, he aggressively courted multiracial audiences and he changed his music. he made specific changes to his music that i discuss in the book in order to make it more palatable to more different types of listensers. in same way obama tweaked his own political message to reach a wide swath of the electorate. >> there are race figured prominently from time to time in the election. sometimes it was kind of on the surface, but it was always a part of the subtext. what do you -- yesterday, yesterday, attorney general rick holder said that, you know, we don't talk as a country a lot about race. we were just talking about the some of the. >> you ounces of prince. we don't talk about about race. we work often times in interracial environments. but then we go back to our

separate enclaves and we kind of, you know, we're in our separate worlds. and holder said we are a nation of cowards when it comes to race. we have, this color of the president now. what are your thoughts on that? >> i think he was trying to be provocative i think his timing was not ideal, number one. and number two, i mean because to a certain extent the country still wants to be in this moment of self-congratulations because we're overcome certain racial hang-ups in order to elect an african-american as president. i think it is necessary to take that moment. i do. >> how long should the moment last? >> it should be brief. but i don't think we should denye people opportunity to feel that they have done something that we've all done something. that we can be proud of. i think on heels of that to say it is a nation of cowards is a little less than prudent. but at the same time, i also think eric holder is about 57 years old.

i think he is talking about his generation and his predecessors. i don't think that language necessarily applies to younger americans. . .

>> what are your thoughts on the new york post, yesterday had a cartoon with, the cartoon was a police officer shooting a champ, and sharpton and some other people said that, unit, it was a racist cartoon because the caption bubble said, and i'm trying to remember, the stimulus package. and you wrote about some of the sensitivities, or in sensitivities during the campaign, with the new york cover that showed the president and his wife and kind of muslim care or garb.

militant. so what are your thoughts on the cartoon, yesterday's cartoon and is there room for satire? >> i think there has to be room for satire. yes, absolutely. and i think centrists, their job is to make us uncomfortable and even to offend a sometimes. so we will all be offended. i think my first thought had nothing to do with racism. i thought that it was capitalizing on this tragedy where this chimp attack this woman. and i feel for her. i fear for her family. i didn't see it that way, but my previous book, i talk a lot about the association of a polite images and language involving monkeys, with african-americans. that is a tenacious -- no, no. , the mainstream. so some african-americans may have sensitivity. i don't think it comes out of it. it is has a solid foundation in

history. in that instance it didn't strike me that like. >> and there are some taboos with swastika, blackberries and the n word. there are some things that people stay away from, tend to stay away from. >> actually there was a writer who made those points. you talk to swastikas, blackface, the n word. their some areas where satirist even are not typically allowed to go. that's one of the things about millennial generations. we find they don't have the same racial hangups but they do have this peculiar tendency to have these blackface parties at campus parties. so they are wrestling with some of the same demons that we have wrestled with. but just in different ways, and i think with less intensity sometimes. >> i'd like to pause here so that you could read for us. i've asked you to read something of your choosing. >> i will read a very brief section. toward the and of the book. let's see.

okay. smart black people have never been invisible to other black people. nor of course have they been invisible to whites who have often chosen to see them as exceptions to a general rule of the black ignorance and subpar intellectual performance. black communities have also suffered weird, internal proceeds regarding black prince. smart like people have been acknowledged and sometimes even admired. but even in the nation's middle-class, being smart has seldom been widely promoted as a desirable lifestyle choice. especially among schoolchildren and analysts. that's what a change that obama has called for will begin to manifest immediately. even in places where black pride has been defined by a nihilism and the willingness to hide powerlessness behind the cloak of bluster it will be fashionable to be pretty. on election night and african-american committees across the country, smart became

the new black. the intelligent negro today is resolve not to make discrimination, and extenuation for shortcomings of performance. individual or collective. a landlocked road in 1925. he is trying to hold himself at par am neither inflated by sentimental allowances nor depreciated by social discounts. for this he must know himself, and be known for precisely what he is. in his 2004 keynote convention speech, obama touch on the danger of making excuses for black anti-intellectualism. that night in boston he condemned the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white. obama's achievement of the white house makes it easier to see and believe that a black youth with a book is, in fact, acting presidential. [applause] >> so you have a lot that you are heaping on the president's

shoulders. >> yes. >> very high expectations. in terms of his, the impact that he will have, this is about everybody. but there seems to be though one group in particular that will benefit just from his presence. >> will come at the same time, i mean, the expectation that we appear to be projecting on obama we're better off projecting that expectation on our cell. this is an opportunity for us to take a step forward and say these are the things that are going to be important to us that this is how we will accomplish them. at the same time, obama's symbolic power is unavoidable. i mean, it's an enormous burden, i think, that all americans have put on it that i wouldn't want

to be in issues. and i admire his ability to walk in them, but the fact remains we do have extraordinary pressures that we are putting on a. i think for the way we can take the pressure off is to put some of that on our own shoulders that he reminded us it's not about me. >> it's not about me. >> right to expect he has a bit of a slider, doesn't he? >> yes, i think so. [laughter] >> i'm wondering if, because he is a man of color, young -- did you attend the in migration? >> no, i didn't. >> i was there with a group of young men from urban prep, young black men. have you heard of them? >> yes. >> and i spent a few hours with them and i was just amazed that they were very well-dressed in a khaki pants and blue blazers. and everywhere we went, because we left downtown washington and went out to, we went to several different places. the federal reserve i think of was, and the u.s. supreme court. and it was interesting how so may people on the train, wherever we went, they would stop these young men and just marvel at how well, you know, how they were so well behaved

and so put together. so i'm wondering if -- these are young men as you know who come from communities that are pretty, yeah yes, they are tough communities. some kids can't wear their blazers to school. they have to change when they get there, because of the ridicule they may get from peers. and so i was wondering, are these the young men who benefit the most? what about the kids who are, the thug like kids? one of the reasons why we don't, these guys get so much attention is because they are considered a typical. so what about, and it's kind of a shame because as you wrote, we understand the intelligent, how these guys aren't just so so unique. but what about the kids who are doing so will? >> for, i first noticed the kids from urban prep prior to the inauguration because i was flipping the channels one night. and i was struck by them in the

same way people were struck on the train. and so i turned up the sound, and at that moment, one of them was describing his classmates and he said we are big obama's. that was the phrase. that's when i began to pay attention to them. but what i think you're talking about this, and i talk about in the book there was one point a divided where the kind of ambition and kind of aspiration that someone like those kids represents was a suckers game. it is cause for ridicule, but i think one of the people, someone who i've never championed, gz, very often articulated, very persuasive argument in terms of how obama's model is penetrating those aspects of society. previous had sort of turned a blind eye to that type of model and he talks about it very well. so i do think there's evidence that it will penetrate various layers of the community. >> is being called the obama affect.

i got a chance to interview some guys, i mean, who would be considered thuggish, right before the election and they were saying this was their first time voting, that they were actually going to, prior to this election, they really had no reason or interest in voting. and so this was a campaign. i was wondering how long lasting that would be, or if it was something that was just kind of, you know, now we feel a part of this. >> i think it is a combination. one is the maturation of black voters in general, and from various economic backgrounds. i think people are being more pragmatic, they are seeing this as another option to get where you need to go. the other strand i think was the emergence of obama himself, because let's be clear, there've been other african-american candidates who haven't embodies those qualities, gone in the inner city, made the same message and been ridiculed and motivated no one to vote. so for part of that must be

attributed to obama himself. i think those two strands coming together at this point, undoubtedly going to be some backsliding. but i think that the cumulative again will be in the positive direction of. >> now, you write about how the culture kind of was prepared for an obama type. and that you know, you at all of these forces that kind of converged and you had this moment that made it right for obama. what role do you think, the fact that we had a president who was quite unpopular, in an administration that was unpopular. what role do that place be? i think that certainly made obama's more attractive, but i don't think that was a primary motive in the inner-city communities. for example, where people haven't voted before. those people were already disgusted with the previous regime and have been discussed with other presidents, but had not been so disgusted that they were motivated to go to the

ballot box and stand in line and vote. i think what that particular aspect was different, but there's no question that some americans reach what i call a state of enlightened what they felt, essentially we have nothing else to lose. >> may be the white voters who may not have wanted to sit in the pew next to an obama, voted for him because he was, that person thought he was a better choice? >> and i think that is maturation, also. people say white voters who voted for obama, they want to pat themselves on the back, etc., etc. i said maybe they do, but i don't see anything wrong with that. i want to pat myself on the back. it's a moment for congratulations. >> let's talk a bit about the speeches. and you write about his speechmaking prowess and where all the money come we've heard him speak. i was always interested, you can have so many people listen to the same speech, and people draw

something different. and so many people connect on so may different levels. how do you think he's able to do that? not every speaker can do something like that. >> right. i call him a secular sermonized. and i point out there are a number of secular sermonized in the african-american tradition. certainly some in the mainstream tradition to abraham lincoln, very obviously. but what i mean by secular sermonized is the use what i call the american scripture. they used a declaration of the best and the constitution in the way that they pastor a christian pastor on sunday morning might use the vital. it is a very intelligent and location of the best line was that america has produced. and obama it's very tough to into that position, especially what african-americans are concerned. what i do in the book as i look at frederick douglass is ripped on we, the people, that phrase. and barbara jordan's famous red dawn we, the people and

connected to obama's we, the people. so there is the tradition we pick pick out us certain aspects of this scripture and make it work. >> i have to say that as i was reading, it was so, the book with so many heavy, m. a. l. a., heavy. and i thought where are the women? then barbara jordan. they were mentioned and not in the same depth. and i just, but barbara jordan really, and i think let's talk a bit about her because i think she's kind of, i mean, we don't hear as much about her. >> it's very interesting how, how much her image and reputation has faded from american -- it's tragic really. not yet, i talk about, when she gave in 1976, she gave the democratic keynote. she was amazing. obama was great but he was no greater. she was, she was amazing.

>> you get your credit back with me. >> i say that in the book. [laughter] >> but i point to the letter she got. she got letters from white voters identifying themselves as white voters saying before he heard you speak i would never have considered a woman. >> 1976 be? 1976. or never considered a black candidate, but you have opened my eyes to that possibility. so i mean, certain things had already begun to take place in the culture of. >> and you write this whole idea of reaching across the aisle is nothing new for, i mean, it's not something new that he's talking about when he talked about reaching across the aisle. abe lincoln, frederick douglass, barbara jordan's. >> and also in refusing to really play this identity politics game. in 1972 when she mounted the first credible campaign for presidency for african-americans that african-americans did race to embrace her and want her to

be the spokesperson and she said i'm not the african-american candidate. i am not running for president of black america so no, i won't do the. and right after that the feminism raise said you're a brilliant woman. she said no, back off. i'm not the woman's candidate either. i am an american candidate. and is some aspect she sort of prefigured some of the same positions that obama later took. >> what she kind of demonized for that? for not being in anybody's, anyone set campus progress i think the electorate had matured to the point where they understood the pragmatic value of that. when you're trying to have a national constituency as opposed to a local one. so she allegedly took some heat for that. >> you're familiar with what's going on now with the obama senate seat. and the controversy surrounding senator birth. and so there have been a call for some ministers some

politicians, i mean, whoever is in that seat that is now a black sea, what are your thoughts about that? >> i don't think it is a black sea. it is a statewide seat, and jeff have a statewide constituency. but i think the more african-americans than ever before understands the difference between a local constituency and a national constituency or a statewide, statewide constituency. that things have to be different, that you have to answer to different aspects of that electric. >> let's go back to the reaching across the aisle with obama. each assigned to the stimulus package. very little support from across the aisle. so what will he need? what you think you will need to do because it's one thing to reach out, i mean, this is a very difficult environment, washington is. it's got a long history, legacy even of separate. >> i don't know.

but one thing he obvious he did was he left washington. and began to go back among the crowd when he first built up his reputation. and i think he's got to continue to do that, whenever there is that bottleneck on capitol hill, he has got to in some way attempt to at least appear to take it to the people themselves. and pressure their representatives in that way. >> he also started, before he left washington, he was having the guys on the other side over for, you know, not for tea but for drinks or something. and that's pretty much his personality, to kind of, because it's harder, if you have a relationship with somebody, you know, this is his business. it's not as easy to not listen to them if you don't have it. >> his theory. so we will see how that plays out. >> i love the first, your first chapter in which you talk about your mom and how she changed her answering machine.

know the way she answered her phone to talk a bit about her. >> my mother is 77 years old, you know. she has seen and done a lot of things that she is from saint louis. saint louis, missouri, and she answers her phone just kind of matter-of-factly i guess, or sometimes even currently, if you call -- if you call went over his own she might even hang up. [laughter] >> but i called her one day and she answered the phone, she said this is our moment. and i said i'm sorry, i said i'm sorry, i have the wrong number. she said, you silly boy. it's your mother. what was that? she said that's how i answer my phone. do you have a problem with that? >> this is our moment. >> right. she caught on to obama much earlier than i did. i must say. so it was indication to me. that made me curious. wow. what's going on here? because the book was also personal challenge for me because i am deeply entrenched skeptic, and rather proud of it. so is very easy for me to say,

he doesn't have a shot. he seems like a good guy, but doesn't have a shot, you know. so it almost becomes your default response to anything that may be radically, you know, optimistic that because. is that i have to say that my mother is in her early '70s and she would say should hate it if i said exactly can't even then, she would be happy. but it was interesting to me during the debates, there was almost, i guess in the '50s or something or maybe the '60s, when people, when black people would be on television. people would call read and they would say, people on television. there was the same since during the debates, people were just calling around with that same fervor when obama was on. they would say this is different because i adore member getting phone calls like this. in the past. >> people would never send a

text message before, and now i'm getting all these text messages. making sure i'm not missing anything. >> but up to the moment and people were so engaged that you think they are still engaged? >> guess. i think for the most part they are. i don't think it's realistic to expect that everyone will continue to be engaged, but right, i think the cuba two games are there. i don't think there'll be that much recidivism that is all lost. >> what did your mom do on inauguration day? >> you know, she is of that generation, she, i don't know. it's hard to describe it but she was very happy. but by then she had her life-sized cutout of obama. [laughter] >> that's cute. >> if you go to her house you have to pose with him spent where did she get that? >> she got it, i'm not sure where she got it, but i saw one in washington and i try to buy her one day. that probably was an indication of how the election is going because i said about one of

those cutouts. they said we're out of we have plenty of mccain and plenty of hillary. [laughter] >> i said might be something to this. but she has won. >> you mentioned a second ago about kind of having the heartbreak. you are old enough to remember the more symbolic campaigns, whether jesse jackson or barbara jordan even come or other people. what did you do to kind of, i mean, not delight it would be so hurtful? >> i mean, i think that's why the skepticism, i mean, it's sort of a defense. it's a defense you have to protect yourself from the emotional investment of a possible defeat. but that's what jesus personal for me but that's my personality anyway. i do want to get invested because if there's her loss, then i have to feel it, you know? and i do know there were others who had that same attitude.

i remember on election night, we were sitting there watching, and my wife, early on when returns are coming, my wife please. she says i can't take this. she didn't come back until it was over. so there is, there was sort of an emotional vulnerability that we might have. >> now i had a friend who works at the university of chicago who is a professor. and i know you have sons. he believes that the whole obama affect will mean, or there will be a greater effect in terms of his, how far he can move forward on someone on him than maybe some younger or someone who is not as mobile. do you understand that? >> i mean, i think the opportunities for advancement are always greater for middle-class african-americans

and the issue becomes how does this become helpful to poor people? but i relied on people who can speak on that with authority in the book, and say that we see evidence of this in our communities, that this kind of thing is happening. howl that will play out in terms of specific, pragmatic opportunities, i can't say. >> were you at all disappointed that obama did not speak more about the poor during the campaign? >> i was not disappointed during the campaign. i will say though that that's something i'm particularly eager to see him a dress now that he is in office. i think i understood why he couldn't do more in that regard while he was trying to win, and when a national constituency. but personally, that is an issue i do dearly hope he will address with some intensity now that he is in office. >> what would you like for him to do? >> i would like for him and his crack team to apply their

legendary intelligence to issues involving the poor. you know, how are the policies that he is proposing to bail out the country, to revive the economy, how will that specifically play out for people who have suffered before the economy, before lehman brothers fell. i'd like to see some specifics there. >> and i mentioned, you talked about in your reading, you talked about intelligence, and how maybe with obama intelligence would be the new cool. do you think, do you think that, and i think you also mentioned that not only will african-americans start to see it as the new cool or it is acceptable mandatory, but others will project that on african-americans. >> yes. yeah, i think, we've already seen that a little bit with groups like the urban prep crew. i was reading an interview with

lebron james in gq magazine today when he said the committee i grew up, there were two is out that one was back at all and one was a way that was not so good that he didn't go into specifics, but he said a way that was illegal. he says now it has occurred to me and it must have occurred to other people in the community where i am from there is another way out. behaving a certain way, that this is also a legitimate path. so i do think that we will continue to see evidence of that. there's already been one study commissioned on the achievement gap already, which and this is very early, so it is somewhat premature. but one study has been released and will be published on that his election has already had an effect on african-american performance where test taking is concerned. >> and that's pretty interesting. i saw that. you've got five children, and let's talk a bit about your children, your background. >> four sons, one daughter.

>> and their ages? >> my kids are 25, 22, 13, 11 and seven. >> my gosh. [laughter] >> clap for my wife. so what are they saying, because you really have, you have quite a cross-section. it was interesting because my daughter was one who watched the elections most close and watch the returns. she is 13. she knew before the rest of us did, exactly when it was declared. >> with it all as engaged? >> the two younger ones, seven and 11, they weren't particularly engaged, my oldest son texted me, you do, he said that age where it's almost a right of passage for blackman of a certain age to be continually harassed by law enforcement. so my son, it's, you have to galas hears about it work you pulled over today? [laughter] >> not today, but he texted me

and he said i have never felt that it was this cool to be black before. had a very emotional reaction to it. and my 20 old son actually published some op-ed's about the election. >> i was at the democratic national convention in denver, and an older woman who lives not far from here in zion, illinois, said to me that at some point what happened, what's happening here and she mentioned on the convention floor, she is like to younger people it's going to be like whatever. do think is happening to us, it's a big deal. but at some point this will happen again and you can only have a first one time. so do you get that sense for your younger kids? >> yeah, i think the lady ran into his right to a certain sense. it almost can't help but be.

so i do think there is some sense, compare the young people's reaction to a parent to action who really have some concrete specific experiences, they can point to which would have suggested to them that this would never happen. >> in looking at your book and i know often the publication time for a book is a year. and this was, this had to be right up to the moment, because you have so much stuff in here from last fall from early winner. so talk about the publication, just how you put this together, how did that go? >> i signed a contract in april 2008. so my editor said you have six was that in my previous book i spent six years. so was a very -- very different espresso me.

for sure like okay, i can do that. but at that point, you know, when i signed a contract there was no certainty you know, that he was going to win. so i had to write a lot of things it's where the conditional tense. if he wins, blah, blah, blah. and then we send it to the press and we got the page prospect and would mark all the places we would have to change any that he actually came through and one. but yeah, i had not intended to be so involved in this particular election because i want to protect my emotions, frankly. but i had begun to race and pieces about why he couldn't win. and i hadn't really thought about it, but as i read those pieces, i thought actually sometimes people are contradicting themselves. 8.2 reasons why he could. so i thought i would look into those more deeply. >> what were your reasons why he couldn't? >> well, i didn't -- here we go. the cliché was america's not ready. i completely bought into that.

then as i begin to look at these things, you know that's really not true. america may be ready. i did know if we would be ready this time, but i did see that it was a probability. >> so as the election went on, you were starting to see that it became more? >> i really struggle to maintain some regions of critical distance. i would say no, we won't know until they count the ballots. i remain a skeptic. and there were a couple of instances in the campaign where i said, i'm going to call the book, what obama meant, because he's about to be past tense. and then it happens. >> and in writing it, you felt yourself, were you starting to become a little less of a skeptic? >> yeah, but you are on guard against it at the same time as a journalist. because you don't want to be some cheerleader. i think it's important that despite obama's charisma that we hold him accountable.

that we don't put him up on some pedestal we can't criticize him and said he's not living up to his promise. so i struggled with that as i wrote the book. but yeah, i begin to feel somewhat confident that may be of victory was in sight. >> when did you first realize that you could write a book? >> in the book? >> in the book. not everybody can write about. >> it was always my ambition to write books. [inaudible] >> right, right. but in college is one of really got the bug i thought this is what i'm going to do. >> you said your mother is in saint louis that you grew up in saint louis of? >> i grew up in saint louis. i was a political science major at northwestern, and i change my major in the middle of my junior year to english. >> where in saint louis? >> i grew up in north saint louis, which at the time north saint louis meant blacks it was.

south of saint louis was white as it was. >> we don't know that. >> like a lot of cities, intensely segregated. >> and did you intend saint louis public schools of? >> i did. i was always and special programs on the southside. so i would catch a couple of buses over to the south side. >> you're one of the smartest? >> supposedly. allegedly spent but you've always been a good reader. because when you read this, read your book, you quote from so many different types of people and you reference from, so it really does speak to how well read you were. >> virginia woolf said books speak to other books that i think coulter speaks to culture. so i try to engage them all into the conversation as much as i can. >> and so did you ever, you were smart young black kid and black boy growing up. did you ever feel that tension,

so how did you straddle both worlds, that made education wasn't necessarily -- >> i think african-american to me at that time had a very weird relationship to intellectualism. there were kids who were totally disregard me because of that. but dinner of the kids whom you might call flags who were oddly protective of me. leave the mantle of your kiss mark, leave him alone. i got that all the time. so there were people who kind of look out for me for the same time. >> so you left high school in saint louis and came up here to northwestern university to study? >> to study political science initially. my family's expectation was that i was going to be a lawyer. and i had this really -- i tell you what the turning point was. brooks came to campus. she did a three-day residency at a woman residential college. and i cut all my classes and i just stopped or. everywhere she went, should look up and i was in the middle of

the audience. the last issue is their there was this reception for her and i pressed some of my writings into her hands. a friend of mine said do it, do. she will take it. she was very good about that. i did know that at the time that i thought i was special. she reached out to young people all the time. but i got a letter. i got a handwritten letter from her saying this is real nice that you need to continue this. so that's what i was looking for so called my mother long distance and i confess to her. i said mom, i don't want to be over. and there was this very long pause. >> sheet and say this is your moment it was no, she didn't get very long pause to find she said you know, baby, medicine is a perfectly good profession. [laughter] >> i had never even discussed medicine. it was an odd moment. >> so then you left, you left with an english degree at northwestern. then what happens to? i went back to saint louis where my family was. and i was determined to be a

poet, poetry was my concentration. and little bitter and magazines, and i took a job at a weekly newspaper in saint louis. it's called saint louis america. and i work there and that's when i began to see -- black paper, yesterday venture is a long story but eventually i went from there to the saint louis dispatch. and i went from there to the "washington post." >> and throughout, talk about your poetry because you have written, published -- >> i'm in a number of anthologies. i have not published a collection of poetry. >> i am always, i love writing. i love the story about her when she was on her deathbed. and i tell the story. because i love it so much, but her daughter, as her death was imminent, her daughter put a pin

in her hand. and i tell my daughter the story, you see? keep this in mind. but i love writing and i always want to know people who write, so where is your passion? is a with poultry, with writing for newspapers or riding nonfiction? >> i think i could be happy doing any kind of writing. i don't think i have a prejudice in terms of genre. i remember telling my wife i'm just going to write different kinds. and whatever opportunity opens up that's what i will do. i think i can be content with that expect you have a writing style, discipline speaker x. i am very disappointed i'm fairly obsessed. i write in the morning and evening. i write all the time. i don't stop. i'm writing right now. [laughter] >> do you kind of scope people and you kind of look at and analyze things and issues just so you can view your riding? >> i think is all fair game. i think any conversation i had

with a human being and counter might find themselves in the pages. i will change their names, of course. >> had you written fiction? >> my first novel is coming out from doubleday, not this april, next april. specs or can you tell us about his? >> it is about a young man growing up in a midwestern town right around the time of martin luther king. against the night that martin luther king is assassinated. >> semi autobiographical? >> vary slightly. very slightly. >> and it comes out in april, the first? >> april 2010. >> was the title? >> it's called matt these days. >> so that's coming, and i publish for children's books and i tumor coming out acted. so you don't have, i mean, you do a whole lot? >> well, a friend of mine

reminded me, he sent an e-mail and he said why do you buy so much, how do you write so much? hero back i have five to and they like to eat. the nerve of them. >> i.t. is about my daughter because sometimes i just kind of staring off in the and she will say, mommy, you are writing, weren't you? >> at least in this regard. so do your children, are they helpful or are they accessories? do they know when you need to let those the? except for the seven year old. but the others, they're more mature and i will explain to them that i am working on something and i don't have a spare brain cell at this moment. but he never has. he doesn't respect that barrier. maybe it's because he's the youngest. >> do you have a writer among the five? >> that, i think i have a couple. but i don't want to put too much pressure on them. >> your wife, tell us a little bit about her.

>> when we lived in saint louis she many african-american theater company, all women, and they did place for women and did all that sort of thing. >> she is the creator type of? >> very much so. >> does that work, counted as because you been married for 20 some years. >> you will note that every book of mine is dedicated to her. and the two previous books before this war her ideas. she suggested to me that i write those books. so she's very involved in the process. >> that sounds great. >> yet. >> and your mother? >> i think so. >> and she feels okay, you didn't go into law? >> it took her a while but i'm still waiting to see that life-size cutout of myself. [laughter] >> sounds great. well, i think if it's okay, we can open up a discussion to you guys, to the audience. and i would ask that you come

down to the microphone if you have a question. i do hope you get a chance to read what obama means for our culture, our politics and our future. a lot of really good insights here. would you like to say your name? >> good evening. my question is, has the president read your book? >> i don't know. >> okay. >> he hasn't called me and told me. >> okay. i read an article in magazine 25 books the president should read. i am just getting through your. this should be one of them that he should read. did you write anything in the book where our reference anything that he has to verify true or not? >> i don't think so. i was pretty careful there because i said if he is elected, he will be so powerful.

i might hear a strange click on my phone. no, no. >> and did you start just before he was elected? >> yes. i started it in april of -- last april. >> thank you. >> there are a lot of lightbulb moments. you know, that's one of the things i like about the book is you make connections, and i know you are a culture critic and your gig, that's your thing is that you are lucky enough to be able to read and watch movies and connect all the dots. that's one of the things i like about the book, is that you kind of take different directions. their kind of unexpected. >> good evening. i am 25. i am in desperate need of obama's bailout. and one reason why i supported other candidates was that i felt like he did nothing for the

poor. and a lot of the poor people that registered what come he doesn't care nothing about us. do you think that obama will attack these issues realistically? argue think like he was just kind of skate on by? in my second question, do you think his celebrity status is detrimental? my sister is 15. i thought she wasn't interested in anything more than make up, and she made the craziest, most, i don't know, she said you know what? i really don't want to see my present next to jessica simpson moms on genes. and obama is on the star and all these tablets and she's like, this makes them cheap. i don't see him outside of the realm of the celebrities i would see on mtv. and do you think that's going to hurt him more, you know, with people not respecting him and sing him and the celebrity light? and you think you will attack the poor issues? because realistically the

transparent politics thing was a ruse and falls that we don't know anything about this bailout, and so far out what i do know, bush gave a more than 400 bucks. i want a job. i got laid off by chris cruise and then followed up by the credit markets that obama doesn't seem to be doing anything to me and those people in the neighborhood. >> thank you for your questions and/or comments that it's a real challenge moment. we are both dualisms before became after, we sort of reciting a litany of bad things that are happening in our profession, and nothing unique is happening and everyone. i'm hoping that this white house level purred -- is a new thing. will lead to something substantive, particularly were issues concerning the poor are relevant. it is too early to tell. i don't know that i'm in, that's something i would like to see. i hope that will happen. and terms of the crassness of

seeing obama next to jessica simpson jeans or whatever, this is something that, so the eggs did many of executive office has been reduced repeatedly. he didn't started. you sort of like the culmination of it, but there is some risk of there. the mullah for me during the campaign was a wrestling show was coming on, smackdown or something like that, and mccain, hillary clinton and obama taped promos for the show and obama's was can you smell what barack is cooking? and i remember going, you know, so you do have those ouch moments. i don't think he is to blame for them, but i do think he has to be careful. i guess he had to do that because the other two candidates were doing that. and a lot of voters like wrestling is probably what the rationale was. but i think that danger certainly exist, that his pop

star status could begin to work against him. mccain tried to turn it against him during the campaign. say he is not a candidate, he is a celebrity. so i think that danger is there. >> good evening. you probably actually address this in your book, but i guess my question is, there's discussion in terms of inner-city african, young youth being drawn to this idea of obama. and coming out to vote and that sort of thing. i guess my curiosity is why do you think it took a figure like obama to draw these young inner-city african-american youths, especially considering chicago, we have a lot of prominent politicians. there's a lot of lawyers. there's a lot of people, african-american individuals who have prominent positions in this country. and so why do you feel that it took someone like him? and especially considering that being president is pretty much an unachievable, you know,

ambition for a lot of people. >> i think, i talked about this a little bit already, that there's no question that there have been african-american political figures as bright, clean and articulate as -- >> joe biden. >> the african-american writing in the atlantic or "new york times" said like people were not amazed by obama being bright, clean, articulate. because we have seen bright, a link of our tickets people the time. there is no novelty for us. you know, part of it is the timing. i think that voters even in inner-city voters were sophisticated enough this time not to just dismiss that kind of approach from the get-go. part of it is timing. because obama has not always initially been embraced. by those particular voters. so i do think it was at this point in time. but i do think we have to get some of the credit to him,

somehow his charisma was able to persuade, was sufficient to persuade people before, had not been persuaded that part of that is intangible. you can't really put your finger on it, you know. until it happens. >> and i wonder if part of it is to have someone that you see, there is a chance. it wasn't just a solid candida candidate. even the postal guy down the street, but it's i think there was a part that was in that frenzy as well. wow, a black president. >> how are you doing? i am a student, a journalisjournalism student and i was wanted, i like what he was think of how obama has influenced young black community, and i wanted to know do you think that your book will influence that same community? where were you actually looking to focus in on one group of

young black men, or was it just a broad group? >> well, you know, i guess i always begin from my perspective as being a husband and father. so all of my books sort of come out of that. so there is an element of self absorption and there, that i want to address the concerns of a reader like me. and other readers are welcome to join it in that conversation that everybody is welcome. but if i had a reader that i envisioned when i began, it would probably be myself or my sons. >> how are you doing, sir? joshua davis at columbia college, and i read somewhere that you worked for the "washington post" for 11 years previously before crisis, and i which is one of what made you take the transition? >> well, i don't know. it's hard to pin that down to

one particular thing, but i had been doing the same thing for longtime and i was looking for something else to do. at the same time there were changes in the newsroom where there were people sitting at desks before, they were gone. and each day you would go and would be a few more empty desks. and i thought, one day i might show up and all my things will be boxed on my desk, and where will i go? so i did see the opportunities they're shrinking. because of changes in the industry. and so i was looking around for something else to do. >> hello, everybody. i am from columbia college. my question to you is i took a class about blacks in the last semester, and i want to know since obama is our new president, will there be more positive black the trails of black americans on television?

what do you think about that? >> well, i don't think that obama will have any direct responsibility in that regard, but i think it's probably not far-fetched to expect to see some characters that reflects some aspect of obama. in our portrayals. i've written about the failure of african-american dramas on television, and where the things that has to be addressed is that african-americans themselves have never substantially supported african-american dramas. so that's something we would have to step up and do more of. and other aspects that portrayal of african-american men on television, i want to point to shonda rimes doesn't "grey's anatomy" and private practice. one of the most successful black producers ever heard if you look at her shows and say that to other medical shows like house,

er, you'd be under the impression that i've been american doctors were maybe 30 to 40 percent of the medical profession. when in reality they are less than 3%. so there are certain shows that are beginning to not be retro in their portrayal of african-americans, but even begin to show us a glimpse of the future. that's possible. of course, you're pointing to a larger issue. i can name another african-american producer of a drama, other than shonda rimes. so there are industrywide problems that have to be addressed before we can see more of the counter portrayals we would like to see. >> people behind the scenes we can ask the create storylines. >> right. and decision-making positions. >> good evening. my name is david. i am a journalism student. >> what school do you go to?

>> columbia. you think having a black president will improve our relations abroad, or one that? >> i think it will. at least temporary. in the beginning i think our international standings probably higher than it's been in some time. and i think that during the cold war, for example, when the united states and the soviet union were fighting, soviet union could always point to the harsh treatment, the unfair treatment of african-americans in this country and say, you don't really need to take the united states as easy as. comes of liberty because look what they do to their own people. and that helped bring about the civil rights movement, that international pressure. i think the same time the united states can cap was on this image as an enlightened electorate capable of voting for a man who in no way resembles, or into way resembles the 40 plus present. an example of the unite states

as an exemplar of progress. i think we'll will will be held to make that argument for is a well. i don't know how long that will carry or how long that will last but the initial response has been encouraging. >> thank you. >> what do you think of the biracial aspect of obama? do you think that adds to his cool factor or not? do think it added to its cool factor during the campaign? >> the question was what do i think of the biracial factor? and obama's rise and do i think it contributed to his cool factor. i think that he is biracial identity was not a hindrance, to be sure. the obvious symbolism was something that he addressed i think very well of representing these two cultural stress. and undoubtedly, to some aspects of the culture, it probably was cool as well i would think.

>> it is one of the aspects that contribute to obama's rise is that he represented a moderate futuristic own alternative to the politics of extremism that dominate the country for the last eight years? [laughter] >> i wonder if that is a real question. i think that the politics of dominate the country for the previous eight years undoubtedly lead to some saddest -- dissatisfaction that helped obama take office on the without question. >> i am with columbia college. my question is more of a local question. i hear people talk a lot about their expectations of obama, but i've learned that you have to affect change locally. so how as an african-american community do we start locally with our local politicians and holding them accountable for

their actions? >> that's a very good question. how do we hold local african-american politicians accountable. just local politicians. >> start locally and hold them accountable for the conditions that we live in. illinois, look at the state of illinois right now. how do we trickle-down? >> well, i am no expert on local politics, but i think that you are, you pointed out the main issue in terms of holding elected officials accountable. now what structures are in place to make that possible, in theory at least on the local level, you should be able to have direct contact, at least with the official or with the representative of the official. but i think you point to particular issues, something that i would like to observe. i don't know much about it now but i would like to see what the impact of obama's election is on how we view local campaigns.

one of the ones i was able to look at a little bit from a distance was in atlanta, to younger politicians rant against john lewis and the congressional district that he pretty much owned. and their campaigns were in part inspired by lewis is there to endorse obama early on. and one of the two candidates, he rented the same office that obama had he used the same colors in his local. he is a younger guy. is right there in the community. and that's what sample, but i would like to see how it plays out on the local level. i don't know and i don't have expertise in the area. i think that's one of the things we should pay attention to. that's not something that my book addresses explicitly because it's so early, but hopefully there will be people addressing that and writing about it.

>> hi. i am also from columbia college. >> how did i know that? >> my question is on a more personal level you talk about what obama means to politics, even to your mom. but what about to you? >> i think, i look at obama as an opportunity or an encouragement to step up my game. you know, i think the things that i want to personally as a husband, as a father, as a writer, i think i already believe that they were achievable, but i think that what it has done is sorted reduced my tendency to whine, you know? to say this is going to be hard. you know, you don't know. this is going to be hard. i got to do this. i'm a writer. i'm neurotic. that's what we do. i am famous for talking about myself out of things. i am very good at coming up with reasons why something will not work. white will not happen. so what i'm trying to make it a

point of personal transformation is to tell myself to look at why things can happen. why things can be done. why they can be accomplished. so we will see how long that last, but that's what i'm feeling right now. >> that's but a good. >> hi. i am a former colleague of doctor graham also the instructor of the columbia college class that is here so you can blame me for all the questions. and i had a course, as a journalist i have a three-part or. the first is about you talked about your identity as a father and and obama talks a lot about his identity as a father and responsibilities. you talked about your mother but i was just curious about your relationship with your own father. that's the first of their physical and was i was wondering how much, these are all unrelated, sorry. how much personal time you have spent in obama was doing a book and if you had any kind of reaction for him. and a third had to do with and this is as an instructor, trying

to channel students into places where there are jobs, and what's going on here but i was one if you could speak to the advantages and disadvantages of working in the mainstream. i don't think it gets more money and strength and the washingtwashington post, versus a specialty publication or association publication that you do now. so there are three different, separate questions. >> and dawn will help you remember them. my dad, my dad is about to turn 80. is my personal hero. he is my role model but he was a schoolteacher and then has been retired for about 10 years. got up to when and work every morning. encourage me in everything that i did. you know, he is first and foremost the dominant influence in my life, to be sure. so i'm very fortunate and blessed and grateful in that regard. the second question? i had no interaction with obama.

spent no time. it is not a biography. is a critique, and so would have complicated what i hoped to do with the book, if i spent time with them and especially if i spent time with him and sort of drink the kool-aid. . .

>> will come you know, i have to say initially when i started out, i never thought that i would work for the mainstream. my goal when i started, particularly as the book critic was that i wanted to be in the nation and the village voice. that was my dream. and i did end up writing for the village voice. never wrote for the nation. but i mean, there are some obviously, for example, let me give you an example. i use added a community magazine in st. louis collocate five which covered african-american cultural issues and i would call people try to get a review, trying to get a review copy of a book, review copy of the record, no one ever called me back. but when i worked at the "washington post" comes the same people would call me. would you like to talk to me? well, where were you five years ago? so, the resource are extraordinary. that's the grated cnh i think and work in a place like that. but i mean i remember i had one

colleague who worked with me at the "washington post" but also were at the times. he made at the "washington post" but he always talks about how that was the best job he ever had your pet a certain amount of freedom, certain amount of independence. and i could say the same thing about when i edited take five and i never made a dime. it was just a joyous experience. i thought i had more control over the product i was being together. >> hi, my name is natalie hall. i am actually clinical psychology student at roseville university around the corner from here. and my question is regarding obama the fact on other ethnic cultures in this country. i know the focus is on african-americans and i feel like we're probably the most outspoken great about civil rights. we're not the only ones in this world to have the issues, but in this country, we seem to kind of

a the leader setting precedents for things like that. and so i'm curious as to what you think obama's effect on other minorities in this country might be coming you know, equality and things like that in political representation, things like that. where do you see that going because of obama's success? >> well, i will only point to some writings that i've read. i've read some columns and stuff like that from asians and latinos in particular saying that they have been emboldened by this experience and that they're going to become more directly involved in politics. at the same time, we seem to be shifting away from explicitly race-based identity politics. so even as they emerge a spokesperson for the particular communities, they are already envisioning how they can be spokespeople for multiple constituencies. so there might even be set to the skip, that african-americans necessarily have to do in order

to create this path, that they would be following. and you also see some very aggressive -- and that's because of obama. you see some very aggressive civil rights type movements among young populations that are race-based. such as environmental activist and, and activists who are already -- you can make an argument that they are already politically or created an already beginning certain forms of activism. you can't necessarily credit obama for what we're seeing in those communities but i think they have been encouraged by. >> hello, my name is terence. i'm a semi-recent college grad from the school of journalism. what i wanted to know from you is first i am very excited and glad that obama got a leg did and i look forward to what he has in store for all of us. what are your thoughts and those who think that now we have a black president, racism is done,

there's no work that needs to be done for racial discrimination. i'm curious what your thoughts are on that. >> obama himself suggested it is naïve to say we are in a post-racial moment. i do think we are possibly inane post-racial hysteria moment. that we can take advantage of. we can acknowledge him a number one, that racism still exists. at the same time we can and knowledge that racism is not so pervasive that it influences everything we can or cannot do. so as long as racism exists in any quantity, not addressed. so, i think we're still in that particular moment. but at the same time, we can speak frankly, we can speak really am not immediately go into mutually opposing camps payless by hysteria. >> how are you doing? i've got a question for you and i make them pretty quick.

my name is leon from washington columbia to keep the movie going. quick question for you, you say pretty much what obama means. what do they mean to your kids, your family? >> i think japan a very broadly, what does obama need to my kids, my family. i think it's a sense of expanded possibility. but at the same time, i have to say that i don't think that my kids sense of what is possible, whatever is narrow. you know, so i think it's more of a confirmation of what they expect it, as opposed to a revelation, which it was for me. >> one last one. when people are reading her book, whether any minority, in a different race, would you want them to take away from the book when they're done? >> other than jesus, i've got to go out and buy all of this guy's

books? no, no. this was a moment of transformation that it's up to us for which i transformation manifests. do we see obama not as the crowning moment or the culmination of a long struggle, but as the beginning of a new one. >> i'm sure wait, let me guess, columbia college? >> my name is angela ford and i was wondering how would you describe your dial in this book from the style in the. >> how would i describe the style of this book? i would describe the last book of the work of history and i would describe this as a work of journalism. >> how are you doing? and joe, also from columbia

college. i was wondering, regarding the freedom museum, is if you were going to be displayed and museums and have you planned on contributing any of them may be potential exhibits that aren't there yet? >> well, i think the representative of the freedom museum is probably best addressed with going on with the freedom museum. all i can say is i'm grateful to have been hosted by them and would happily work with them at whatever capacity. >> another question. regarding your new novel, nappy days, is that coming out in 2010? >> yeah. >> or any of the real-life experience is going to be paralleled in any aspect of the book? >> realize, i'm sure. i'm sure the answer is yes. i can't think of specific experience right now because i immediately set out to fictionalize. you know, how can i change this? one very obvious thing i do is let say or what about you when it puts you in the book, i'd

make you about five, five and african-american. so you wouldn't open it up and say hey that's me. >> hello. i know the crisis magazine conspired in 1910 and sounded like the boy. i would like to have two questions actually. how obama compares to do beauty beta blake and i would like to know how principles of the boy are you following in your life? >> well, she's asking me about the boys. it's hard to put a fine point at in the book. but i will say that i discussed that a lot in the book, relationship between devoid observations and arguments and obama's emergence. and i also say that when i set out to write any book or in a column, anything i've ever done i always say to myself, okay i will not quote dubois. okay, because he so dominated my

thinking. but of course i filled immediately. he's been everything that i write. in terms of my philosophy, dubois was a fearless, shameless intellectual. and in my office a different photo of dubois tonight favorite quite by dubois is ignorance is a cure for nothing. that's my philosophy. >> and from the university of chicago. i guess i have two questions. okay, now that we have and african-american in office now, the president, now that we have -- okay, it's a lot of black african-american man that our wonderful fathers.

and now that we have obama in office, do you feel that the fathers that have not been fathers to their children are going to step up and be responsible for the children that are out here that don't have their fathers with them? and also, barack obama had said to the young people, pull up their pants. do you think that -- what type of facts do you think this is going to have? >> sure. her questions were, is obama's prominent as a dedicated father going to have an influence on african-american fathers who have not been dedicated to do their children. and second question was, is obama going to have an effect on such behavior as the sagging pants that we see? and that's a good question. in fact, i'll answer that one first because i really like the

way that obama handled that question when he was asked that by a reporter from mtv. can you talk about the sagging pants? and he said, you know, first of all your talk about legislation. should there be legislation to ban sagging pants? there are far more pressing issues, which require our attention. he went on to name them. then he said now having said that, brothers, you need to pull up your pants. i thought that was a very good way to do that. and masri, north carolina central college in north carolina and math did a new dress policy was crafted by the african-american man on the campus. and rule number one was no more sagging pants. so, we've seen some evidence. you know, we can only hope that it will have a similar effect on men's who have been lax in their

periods. we are projecting so much onto obama, we're really it's then up to us to call those people out. also we need to redefine black masculinity in our community. we've often do find it around a completely different equation in terms of your ability to make 80's, where there should be ability to raise them once you've made them. and we haven't made that commitment yet. >> hello again. you've obviously had a lot of success in your career. i was wondering if you could impart some advice or wisdom for aspiring journalists and writers in regards to getting work published, things like that. >> well, wisdom for expiry journalists and writers, my first -- initially i just wanted to be published. i would've paid to be published. but i think initially -- i'll give you an example. i had a young guy i was really trying to get them in the

"washington post" when i was an editor. he was a smart guy. he turned in a piece and another added or edited, not me. and let's say, let me just pull an example out of the air, the great critic just died. the editor said to the young man, you know, this language you have here is not really working. i'm trying to work with you to make this planer. i want to take out a few of these 20-dollar words you've got in your. and much to my chagrin, he said i used those words all the time. when he should've said, you know, i'm grateful for the fact you told me that. let me work with you to make that piece publishable. i'm grateful that i'm not yet john updike. so i think it's a certain amount of humility is required an assertion amount of seriousness. the first use i ever sold was louis american. it was $35. and i didn't go in there and say

this is worth $300. how dare you. i said, thank you, can i get some copies? in the beginning you write wherever there's an opportunity. he writes because he did all right, will die. it has to be that kind of motivation. and the other stuff has to come later. these can be very strategic area you can sit down and look at the things you want to be publishing, pay attention to them. but i do not talk about the nation and the village voice. i would take them apart and get in here. how can i write like these men and women. it's okay to do that. and kind of isolate them and dissect them and examine them. but in the beginning, just get it out there. and income you don't have to get it published, just to get out there keep producing. [inaudible] >> i have one more question. you said earlier that there are

people of color that ran for election before. do you think that obama theme of color helps this election? or do you think he made a bigger impact? >> i think him of being of color helped in some quarters. some quarters that undoubtedly hurt. there were definitely some who didn't vote for him because of that. obviously, there were others who are motivated to work within because of his color. maybe it was a wash, maybe it was an advantage, it's hard to call. the mac thank you. >> hi, my name is brittany. i'm also a student at columbia college and i have some questions. i was wondering, in your writing, do feel like it's a major responsibility to take on the tax of being a blackmail out there as been compared to

others? and the second question is, do you read a lot of other black male authors for further inspiration? >> do i feel us sense of responsibility as a black man writing? i would say yes. i record my ancestors ancestors of my soldiers. i have a shrine in my office about my intellectual ancestors, i have framed photos of all of them. so yes, they're actually looking at me when i write. so i do feel a sense of responsibility when i create. into every band? yeah, i read them with some intensity. i try to read african american male writers of my own generation, but as a drudgery previous generation read previous generation with some intensity, some regular devotion. people like dubois and james baldwin and i'm a huge ralph allison accolate and many other writers as well. >> i came from new york and i'm

hoping you can help me think of venues to come do this in new york, possibly a bookstore, possibly times talks, possibly to universities. >> anywhere i'm invited to >> the other thing is, obama nearly got 75% of the new york city vote. what about the other 30%? a lot of people out there posting are continuing to oppose him. i mean, i think easter monday is is -- >> i think we have to be really careful when we talk about him having a mandate for change. you know, i think mandate is a really strong word. we objected when ronald reagan had a mandate and so many people voted against ronald reagan. but i think it's important for people who believe in what obama is going to continue to support him. but also at the same time, hold them accountable to make sure he answers to those constituencies that got them there in the first

place. at the same time, he said in grant park to the people who didn't vote for me, i will be your president, too. so i do think that kind of disdain wishes and from his predecessors, that he does feel beholden to people who did not vote for him. >> bush said he would be united -- >> he also said he'd be compassionate. we could spend the rest of the evening talking about that. >> hi, good evening. george just talk to us from chicago. you indicated that in your first book it took you six years to write. in your rush to satisfy your publisherssix-month deadline, did you at anytime during the course of writing this book compromise your journalistic principles simply to bring and provide it to market.

>> no, what i did have to do in the real test for me is i don't want to let it go. i want to say well, there's more information. but the real challenge for me, with every chapter was i have to stop. i have to turn the sand. so more stuff is going to happen, like i mentioned lehman brothers. they said why did you have more about the economy? lehman brother was still functioning, september 28, i turned a chapter in. i can't go back. so it's that kind of situation. that was the real challenge for me, not a challenge of ethics, but a challenge of i guess discipline or approach. i have to have knowledge that i can't see it on the book. i mean, that's probably what took me six years for the previous book. i said i've got to get more, i've got to get more. and i couldn't do that with this one. i got pretty good at saying okay, i have to stop.

>> well, i'd like to thank you -- one more, i'm sorry. but i will thank you. >> i had a question. you know, i really admire keeping obama's name intact. because one of the things that's always been going on in african americas communities as we only go so far with african-american culture. there is some populations who do change the names. i was wondering, how do you see that as playing a role, developing and american ethnicity with african influence in our desired. so bill cosby made a comment and set in the same breath that you can make it by changing her name to funny african names. think of obama. i was wondering if you can comment on that.

>> yeah, i think obama dramatically put the lives of atomicity to argument. but to a certain extent, you know, i understood where cosby was coming from because i had a very anti-intellectual response to when michael dukakis ran. you know, i said, americans aren't ready to vote for somebody named dukakis because it's too ethnic. you know, and i may or may not have been relevant at all in dukakis' campaign. but i had that same reaction. so i understand where you're coming from. it obviously, we are evolving beyond that particular hangout. >> is amazing. so many rules were broken. well, now i will say, thank you so much for coming and thank you for sharing the stage with me. wonderful book. got back on track on turn

[applause] been a

>> thank you. got to be here. on this rather crisp january day. there's an old saying that no matter how popular you are, the size of your funeral is going to depend on the weather. so i'm so glad to see so many of you with the temperatures hovering around minus eight outside of the low. 1960, three presidents, three very different personalities, three ambition, all ultimately for the same offense, the white house, the presidency, the leadership of the free world as they used to germinates back then. but the ambitions are all vastly different. john f. kennedy. his is an ambition of a dynasty. in some sense, a political dynasty, also a financial

dynasty. his father, joseph p. kennedy wanted to be the first tablet president of the united states of america. his ambitions, get derailed, around 1940 as he picks the wrong side of the isolationist debate going into world war ii. and he transfers those ambitions to his son, joseph p. kennedy junior, who in august 1944, in an effort to equal his younger brother, jfk's wartime exploit, pt 109 is piloting obama across the english channel, filled with one of perhaps the greatest lows of tnt in the history of mankind. and somewhere across the english channel, that plane debate. they never find the pieces of him. windows are shattered and buildings in london, the

explosion is so severe. and that is the end of that part of joseph p. kennedy senior's plan for the presidency. those ambitions are transferred to john f. kennedy junior who up until this point never saw himself as a politician. saw himself as a writer, historian, journalist perhaps. not quite sure what he was going to be. a bit of a dreamer. but when joseph p. kennedy senior, old joe wants you to do something, his sons do it. and in 1946 he runs for congress. and by 1960, the ambition, which was not is for the presidency is. he's ready to rock. lyndon baines johnson, belongs to a different sort of dynasty, a different sort of ambition. his family was a dynasty on the way down. his family owned land and all slaves in texas and in the

american south and his father, sam johnson, have been made member of the texas state legislature. but, he works his way down on the social and political scale. when it's in the legislature, sam johnson sponsors a bill to have a road constructed near their hometown. and by the time that road is to be constructed, sam johnson is not only a former member of the state legislature, he is working on the road crew doing manual labor, hauling dirt on his back, pushing wheelbarrows. that's how the johnson family had fallen so very, very quickly and lyndon johnson's youth. and lyndon johnson, sort of like scarlett o'hara in gone with the wind, while lyndon doesn't promise never to go hungry again, he promises never to be the idealistic fool his father

had been, who played a promising political career into working on that road crew. hamlin did not comment even to succeed, and he was going to succeed not only in the most nefarious of ways politically, but also that he would be a president who knew how clever and nefarious he was. he works himself up onto additional aid. the congressman of the united states senate in 194018 selected in the u.s. senate by 87 votes. those 87 votes are highly fraudulent. they know it has landslide lyndon for the rest of his life, even after he has achieved a very great landslide of itself in 1964. but he then become senate majority leader and makes into a position of great responsibility and power, unpce