Rather, she continued, they take a holistic look at issues that all Americans view as important, adopting an “outside-in” approach to dealing with race relations. For example, Obama is now working on improving health care — a top concern for all in today’s turbulent economic climate, but also an issue that disproportionately affects people of color, Ifill said.
“Obama doesn’t like to discuss race,” Ifill said. “Bill Clinton actually spoke more about race as president than Obama does.”
Many of the “old guard” leaders were hesitant to support Obama’s presidential bid at first. U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., for one, originally lined up behind former New York Sen. Hillary Clinton. But reportedly, after some soul-searching and recalling what it was like to be a young, optimistic civil rights activist in the 1960s, Lewis said he changed sides because he wanted to be on the “right side of history.”
Despite the progress made in propelling more African Americans into the political process, however, black representation in state and national elected office is still relatively rare. There have only been four black U.S. senators and four black governors elected since Reconstruction, and most black elected officials are still concentrated in five states — Illinois, Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi.
Compounding the problem of increasing black participation in government, according to liberal pundits, is that there’s not much competition for the black vote. The Republican Party’s lack of success in attracting black members was documented during the campaign by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington-based black think tank that reported that of the 2,380 delegates seated at last year’s Republican National Convention last year in St. Paul, Minn., only 36 were black.
Ifill offered anecdotal support for those numbers, saying that when she was on the convention floor to interview delegates, people started hugging her because they were so glad to see a black person at the convention.
“They wanted to hug me until they found out I was part of the evil media,” Ifill said.
During the convention, Ifill said she spoke to former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, who said that he was “sad” because his party is so behind in trying to engage African Americans in the Republican platform. Steele, who recently became the first black chairman of the Republic National Committee, has latley been embroiled in a skirmish with radio talk show host Rush Limburgh over whose voice has primacy within the Republican Party.
As for advances in politics made by other racial minorities and by women, Ifill said, “Someone else needs to write that book,” because she is still tired from writing “The Breakthrough.” However, she did identify several public officials of color to keep an eye on, including Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, the first Hispanic woman to hold the position.
As the number and influence of politicians of color rises, Ifill said she would like to see the same sort of enthusiasm about increasing the number of black journalists who cover politics. Ifill started her journalism career here in Boston in the late 1970s, writing about the city’s school desegregation battles and other topics for various newspapers, including the Banner, before making the switch to political reporting.
The demands of her job can sometimes take a toll, but Ifill said she just takes it all in day by day.
“I am in a good place right now,” she said. “I have learned to live in the moment, and that is good for me.”
