A review by socraticgadfly
The Black Presidency: Barack Obama and the Politics of Race in America by Michael Eric Dyson
4.0
This is a good critique of Obama's presidency — within an establishmentarian box.
Dyson notes how Obama has dealt with being America's first black president while actually being of biracial background, and of the African portion of his heritage technically being African native, not African-American. He described in detail how this has worked with traditional black American power brokers, his one-time pastor and by extension the "black church" and other things.
Dyson also describes how Obama has *not* dealt with some of these things, such as working around at least some sections of the "black establishment," or, more accurately, the "black establishment as he found it in 2008."
So, in that sense, it's a version of "inside baseball," with all of its strengths as well as weaknesses.
And, weaknesses there are. Dyson pretty much passes by Obama's call, early in his presidency, for people of the left to keep pushing him, then his irritation when they — white, black, brown, or other colors — did just that. And, outside Cornel West, he doesn't mention a lot of black critiques from the left, outside the left edge of the black establishment.
Dyson notes how Obama has dealt with being America's first black president while actually being of biracial background, and of the African portion of his heritage technically being African native, not African-American. He described in detail how this has worked with traditional black American power brokers, his one-time pastor and by extension the "black church" and other things.
Dyson also describes how Obama has *not* dealt with some of these things, such as working around at least some sections of the "black establishment," or, more accurately, the "black establishment as he found it in 2008."
So, in that sense, it's a version of "inside baseball," with all of its strengths as well as weaknesses.
And, weaknesses there are. Dyson pretty much passes by Obama's call, early in his presidency, for people of the left to keep pushing him, then his irritation when they — white, black, brown, or other colors — did just that. And, outside Cornel West, he doesn't mention a lot of black critiques from the left, outside the left edge of the black establishment.