A Day for the History Books
Barack Obama's nomination is the social equivalent of landing a man on the moon.
Wednesday was a historic day, the kind I got into this business to see up close, the kind of day that belongs in the history books.
It began for me in my hotel lobby, where I had a morning chat with John Lewis, the famously brave civil-rights marcher turned Georgia congressman. "I haven't stopped crying for days," he told me.
My day ended after midnight in a hot but happy nightclub crowd, as I listened to Kanye West proclaim his "confidence" and "high self-esteem, steam, steam—I am so confident I am my own echo!"
Between those moments, I watched in the Pepsi Center as the Democratic Party nominated the descendant of African goat herders to be president of the United States. Is this a great country or what?
If you read me on a regular basis, you know that I do my best not to take sides. But I love politics, history and my country, and reporting about all three. And I couldn't help but be moved by what I am seeing here.
If you know American history, you know that Obama's nomination is the social equivalent of landing a man on the moon. And for that accomplishment all of us—but especially African-Americans—have every right to a teary, mile-high celebration.
There is another article to be rewritten—on another day—about the pitfalls and perils of self-referential, self-indulgent "identity politics" based on race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation. For decades, the Democrats have been obsessed with it, often to their detriment. And there has been plenty of that displayed to excess here. It is the special honor and burden of Democratic Party to be the engine of identity politics since the 1960s.
And dwelling on history for its own sake won't help the Democrats win. You can make history, but you can't eat it: acts of political inclusion, falling racial barriers—none of that necessarily puts food on tables.
Still, let's pause and give credit where it is due, to the party—which is truly diverse, no matter how fat the fat cats are—and to blacks who channeled their dreams and frustrations into the cause of gaining power through the system—and who have thus just renewed it.
When I shook hands with John Lewis, I knew that he was seeing this week through the eyes that had seen Selma. "So much history," he said to me. "And now I have no more tears left! I'm cried out!" He was laughing when he said this, but I didn't believe him.
In the hall, the roll call Wednesday ended when Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton graciously went to the floor so that she could lead the New York delegation in calling for Obama to be nominated by acclamation. It was a moment marked for only a few minutes, with cheers and music, but it was, technically and legally, the Rubicon of race.
Afterward, on the way out of the hall, I fell into a conversation with a law professor named Ron Sullivan. He was African-American and had gone to Harvard Law School with Obama. He practiced corporate law in Washington then returned to Harvard to teach.
He had his wife and their young son in tow. The boy, dressed for the occasion in an argyle sweater, wasn't quite 8. Smart and aware, he was surveying his surroundings—the Pepsi Center, the walkways leading to downtown Denver—with a precocious sense that he knew exactly where he was. For the boy, it was a political convention—nothing more, nothing less. It was his first, but I bet, not his last. He looked like he belonged there, every inch the young scion born to take his place eventually as a leader in America.
To quote Kanye, it's time to touch the sky.
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Howard Fineman is Newsweek's Senior Washington Correspondent and Columnist, senior editor and deputy Washington bureau chief. He is the author of "Living Politics," a column that began on MSNBC.COM and Newsweek.com and that now also appears in the print magazine. An award-winning reporter and writer, Fineman also is an analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, appearing regularly on "Countdown with Keith Olbermann," "Hardball with Chris Matthews" and "TODAY." The author of scores of Newsweek cover stories, Fineman's work has appeared as well in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The New Republic. His 2008 national best-selling book, "The Thirteen American Arguments," was released in paperback by Random House in the spring of 2009.
One of the nation's leading political reporters, Fineman has interviewed every major presidential candidate from (then-vice president) George H.W. Bush in 1985 to (then senator) Barack Obama early and often in the 2008 campaign cycle. His current work focuses on the Obama Administration and its top officials, as well as on Congress and politics throughout the country. Although based in Washington, Fineman travels widely in the U.S. and has covered politics and other events in 49 of the 50 states.
Fineman's work has produced many milestones and awards. A cover story in November 2001 featured President George W. Bush's first extensive interview after 9/11. Another cover, "Bush and God," was part of a series of articles that won the 2003 National Magazine Award for General Excellence. His reporting has helped Newsweek win many honors from the Magazine Publishers Association and the American Journalism Review. Other awards include a "Page One" from the Headliners Club of New York, a "Silver Gavel" from the American Bar Association and a "Deadline Club" from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). In 2006 he received the Alumni Award from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.
As a reporter and writer, Fineman ranges widely. Besides campaign-year covers, other projects have included: race and politics, the impact of digital technology on society, the influence of Hollywood on politics, the rise of the religious right and of conservative talk radio. He has interviewed business leaders such as George Soros, Bill Gates, Steve Case and Robert Rubin and entertainment figures such as Warren Beatty, Jane Fonda and Jay Leno.
Although now under exclusive television contract to NBC, Fineman over the years has appeared on major public affairs shows, such as Nightline, Face the Nation, Fox News Sunday, Larry King Live, Charlie Rose and the NewsHour. He was a regular panelist on Washington Week in Review on PBS (1983-95) and on CNN's Capital Gang Sunday (1995-98). He worked with Ted Koppel on Nightline specials, and has been a guest on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report."
A native of Pittsburgh, Fineman began his career at The Courier-Journal in Louisville, covering the environment, the coal industry and state politics before joining the newspaper's Washington bureau in 1978. He moved to Newsweek in 1980, was named chief political correspondent in 1984, deputy Washington bureau chief in 1993, senior editor in 1995 and senior Washington correspondent and columnist in 2008.
Fineman holds an A.B., Phi Beta Kappa, from Colgate, an M.S. in journalism from Columbia and a J.D. from the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. His legal education included a year as a visiting student at the Georgetown University Law Center. He received Watson and Pultizer Traveling Fellowships for study in Europe, Russia and the Middle East, and has traveled to more than 40 countries, among them China, Vietnam, Japan, Ukraine, Israel, Turkey and the West Bank Palestinian Territories.
Fineman is married to Amy L. Nathan, a senior counsel at the Federal Communications Commission. They live in Washington with their two children, Meredith and Nicholas.
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