his name is randall kennedy. always honored to have him on this program. a provocative new book, "the persistence of the color line, racial politics and the obama presidency." a delight to have you on this program. >> thanks for having me. tavis: see you back next time. until then, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with dave stewart on his new cd. that is next time. see you then. >> every community has a martin luther king boulevard. it's the cornerstone we all know. it's not just a street or boulevard, but a place where wal-mart stands together with your community to make every day better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and answer, help tavis improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment one conversation at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] >> be

this week randall kennedy and his latest book of the persistence of the color line racial politics and the obama presidency. in at the harvard law professor explores the influence of racial politics in the administration of the first african president. he attempted to answer whether black americans have special expectations on mr. obama and whether the president should feel a unique racial obligation in return. he delves into these topics with the american urban radio white house correspondent april ryan. >> host: of mr. kennedy, it is a great honor to be with you today. talking about your book, "the persistence the color line official politics and the obama presidency." mr. kennedy, could you talk to me -- you start out in the book with race, the historical perspective of race. perspective of race. can you start off with house race played in this country from slavery to jim crow to civil rights? >> guest: one of the first things i wanted to do in the book was to explain to people frankly why it was it such a big deal on election night when barack obama was elected president of the uni

tomorrow night, a candid, frank conversation with the noted harvard law professor randall kennedy. he is out with the new text above recent age of obama -- new text about the recent eighth of obama. there is a part about me. we are here with kwame kilpatrick, the mayor of detroit, but in 2008 he was forced to resign and eventually went to prison. he is hoping to build a new life, which includes his new text. he joins us now from dallas. nice to have you on this program. >> thanks for having me. >> let me start by asking the obvious. that title. by surrendered, you mean to what and to whom the money >> to god and letting go, trying to make things happen myself, trying to engineer my own fate and future without accepting what the will of god was in my own life. allowing god to act in my life. >> as part of that group, we know we have all sinned and fall short of the grace of god, get some of us get so far outside the will of god, how did kwame kilpatrick if so far outside of the gods will buy your own admission? >> there is no one thing. it did not just happen when i became mayor. i

thank you. >> host: we are back with author and harvard law professor randall kennedy, the author of "the persistence of the color line racial policies -- racial politics and the obama presidency." mr. kennedy, this has been a fascinating read. very interesting to read as a reporter i take no sides, i just take it all in. but in talking with you moving to chapter 5 and i thought this was very interesting myself and listening to you, you said it was hard to grapple with. chapter five, talk to me about that since we just left off with hiram revels. >> guest: this is the chapter that concerned me most. i indicated earlier the most perilous moment in barack obama's candidacy was over his relationship with reverend wright and he had to extricate himself from that relationship. he gets a speech in which he distances himself but he doesn't cut off reverend wright and then reverend wright comes back on the scene and really puts -- >> host: at the national press club. i was there. >> guest: at the national press club and he puts the candidate on a hot spot, and makes it seem actually -- i tho

ryan asks a question of randall kennedy 11. we will show you that question and a little of his answer but i am more interested in hearing you respond to the question as well. here it is. >> barack obama has burdens that no politician would have. he had special burdens. special racial burdens. white politicians have racial burdens too. everybody has a race. but a black president has a special burden. >> host: the question was supposed to be included but randall kennedy says barack obama has burdens no other president has. >> guest: because of where we have been as a country and the centrality of our race it would be naive to expect that he would not have a set of racial issues that a white politician does not have. i was in south carolina for the primary. i remember going to what was supposed to have been a celebration for john edwards but john edwards didn't do very well in that primary so it became more of a wake. i turned to a white woman more or less around 40-something identified as -- and i said your candidate obviously is

professor randall kennedy joins me now. much for coming on the program today. first, you mentioned that president obama has to balance the dreams and the expectations of black voters and the anxieties and fears of white voters. can you just explain that a bit for us? >> well, sure. take a look right now at the debate over economic policy. on the one hand, he's criticized by some blacks. if he does not frame policies that will particularly help the black unemployed. because they're disproporti disproportionately in the ranks of the unemployed. if he doesn't do something special, he's accused of abandoning his base. on the other hand, if he does do something special, he will be accused of showing racial favoritism. he's caught in a bind a dilemma. >> let's talk about this dilemma. when you look at the economy and the jobs battle, there are those who say he isn't doing enough for black people and others who say he's not doing enough for people, period. how does he manage this line? >> it's a very difficult situation that he's

on afterwards harvard law professor randall kennedy looks at the influence of racial politics on the first african-american president. live sunday three hours in depth. former editor and columnist for newsweek magazine ellis coats on race and the media. look for the complete booktv schedule at booktv.org. sign up for booktv alert. weekend schedule in your in box. >> what are you reading this summer? booktv wants to know. >> i am reading the book about "the coldest winter: america and the korean war". quite frankly i have held on to this book not wanting to open up the pages to it. it goes over the korean war and for most people familiar with the korean war said you don't want to know. what do they mean by that? i was in korea when the chinese actually surrounded the eighth army. it was a nightmare. 60 years ago, to the best of my knowledge i haven't suffered psychologically about that war. it pains me when i think of the number of americans dead. who died in korea. it becomes more difficult when people ask me to explain my heroic actions. i have no idea where i was or why i was there

. >> host: author randall kennedy, thank you so much. >> guest: thank you. thank you for having me. >> host: it was a great discussion. >> guest: thank you. .. and mental toughness that's been adopted by soldiers over the centuries. this event is just under an hour and a half. >> i'm always sort of humbled by coming to any place like this with you wonderful guys and gals and that i'm speaking to you kind of feels a little odd. i feel like you should be speaking to me. you guys have my deepest respect and appreciation come you guys and gals for what you are doing. i want to thank general mulholland for getting this here and to joe green men, who is the one who pushed a lot of buttons are not endorsements of this thing out. so i hope that helps a little bit. let me tell you where this came from. i just have a book coming up right now, a novel called the profession. it's kind of a tom clancy-ish thriller, whose premise is a generation for mercenary forces have replaced forces. as i started thinking about that, i started to ask myself, will there still be a code

afterwards harvard law professor randall kennedy looked at the influence of racial politics on the first african-american president and lives under a three hours in depth. editor and columnist for newsweek magazine ellis notes on race and the media. look for the schedule at booktv.org and signed up for booktv alerts, weekend schedule in your in box. >> c-span is covering town halls around the country as members of congress talk to their constituents during recess. next we take you to los angeles where democratic congressman xavier becerra talked to constituents about the economy, deficit and congressional agenda. the congressman is a member of the deficit reduction committee. the 12 member bipartisan panel set up this $1.5 trillion in deficit cuts. this is an hour and 15 minutes. as much time as possible for folks to ask qu >> i want peesople to ask questions or make comments. i will go through the mechanical stuff usually go through. many of you have been to my town hall before so you will be bored but it is good for those who are new to hear it who have seen and heard it as before. sin

afterwards, randall kennedy looks at the influence of racial politics on the first african-american president. and live sunday three hours in depth. former editor and columnist for newsweek magazine ellis coats on race in the media. look for the complete booktv schedule at booktv.org and sign up for booktv alert. the weekend schedules in your in box. >> u.s. chamber of commerce president thomas donahue says the government has not done enough to address unemployment. he spoke yesterday at the chamber's briefing on the economy. up next we will show you an hour of that briefing. [inaudible conversations] >> good morning, everybody. welcome to the annual labor day briefing. we are looking forward to hearing from randy johnson. but before that, tom donahue, ceo of the chamber has some remarks to make and he will take a few questions before he has to run off to another appointment. >> we look forward to your latest economic forecast and your assessment of the state of the economy. marty is one of the best in the business. he speaks plain english. for an economist that is a rare skill. you may not a

on "after wards," randall kennedy looks at racial influence.nd live sunday three hours "in depth." ellis on race and the media. look for the complete "book tv" schedule on booktv.org. weekend schedules in your inbox. "washington journal" continues. host: charles tiefer, what is the commission on wartime contracting and how did it come about? guest: well, it's a commission created by congress. three-year commission. congress had seen there was too much waste, fraud and abuse in the wars in iraq and afghanistan from contractors. it created a commission. the eight commissioners, including myself and chris shays to go to iraq and afghanistan, hold hearings and find the facts and make suggestions. host: chris shays, what did you find? guest: well, we found a lot. first off, the obvious half of our military effort, the personnel are contractors. we learned that there was significant waste, fraud and abuse, and we started out thinking, my gosh, if half of the people there are contractors we better oversee them better. and then we said, well, if you ca

ray nagin and randall kennedy on the influence of racial politics on the first african-american president. and live sunday, former columnist for "newsweek" magazine, ellis cose on race and the media. >> next, federal reserve board member elizabeth duke calls for more government assistance to homeowners. she noted that the current economy is hampered by low demand for homes and in order to reverse this trend, homeowners should be allowed to modify mortgage loans. this is half an hour. >> thank you. i hope you all enjoyed the program so far this morning as much as i have. this helps us advance our policy dialogue and thank you all for being here. i want to thank the speakers this morning for their honesty and openness and comments. i want to thank our economy team for their foresight and activity in organizing today's program. we have a staff of housing and community development experts in the division of community and community affairs that are committed to examining the concerns of disadvantaged communities. today's program is just the beginning of a fall lineup of many other programs tha

harvard law professor randall kennedy looks at the influence of racial politics on the first african-americannday, three hours in depth. former editor and columnist andelliellis cose. weekend schedules in your in box. >> this morning fred barnes joined us on "washington journal" to talk about vice president dick cheney's recently released memoir. we spoke with him for about 30 minutes. executive editor of th weekly standard, a contributor to the fox news channel. cheap shot, condoleezza rice says the dick cheney book is an attack of her integrity. this is just one of the latest responses, which you've read. guest: one of the closing chapters in the book, he disagrees with her. she's secretary of state. he is vice president, on the policy of north korea. he thinks she was extremely l n lenient and wanted president bush to sign the agreement with the north koreans. cheney said it wasn't that at all but as a result of conversations her assistant had had. obviously cheney disagreed heartily. it is strenously written. at the end of the day, president bush agreed with her. host: she says she never

randall kennedy looks at the influence of racial politics on the first african-american president brigid live sunday, three hours of in doubt. a former editor and columnist for newsweek magazine on race and the media. look for the complete schedule at booktv.org. weekend schedules in your in box. this holiday weekend on american history tv on c-span3, the name conjures up elegance and grandeur. the queen mary was commissioned as a church ship. the integration of baseball by african-americans, women, and asians. and remembering 9/11. uncovering september 11 from president bush's farda trip and the pentagon. look for the complete we can schedule at c-span.org/history. >> next, representative debbie wasserman schultz has a town hall meeting for senior citizens. the focus of the meeting was health care and the economy. she discusses disaster funding, bipartisanship, and the upcoming agenda. this is an hour and 10 minutes. >> it is an honor for me to welcome a lady who needs no introduction. her presence is always felt here. even though we see you on the nightly news now, and in the national