The fruits of that education were displayed in the “Politics of Transformation”. Written during Mr. Obama’s final semester, the manuscript updated Bayard Rustin to Ronald Reagan’s age. Mr. Obama and Mr. Fisher’s plan revolved around recruiting blue-collar whites back into a reincarnated version of the March coalition on Washington. According to Mr. Obama and Mr. Fisher, these votes can be won with a platform that appeals to both the values and the material interests of working people. That means moving from race-based initiatives to global economic policies whose interests are, in fact, in favor of African-Americans — in short, “using class as representative of race”.
Mr. Obama and Mr. Fisher are not pretending that racism has been erased from American life. “Precisely because America is a racist society,” they wrote, “we cannot realistically expect white Americans to make special concessions to blacks over the long haul.” Asking white Americans to grapple with four centuries of racial oppression may be a morally honorable position, but it’s a terrible political one. They wrote: “Blacks who fervently emphasized the prevalence of white racism adopted a strategy dependent on white people’s guilt, and mocked the idea that white people whites will” someday wake up, realize the mistake in their ways, and offer blacks wholesale reparations to exterminate white demons. “
Economics is a safer bet. Mr. Obama and Mr. Fisher wrote of blue-collar workers of all races, “understood in concrete ways that the American myth of individualism conceals a fixed game against them.” But this pragmatism could also be a trap for reformers hoping to narrow racial divides. “If it was working-class whites who voiced their most disapproval of their affirmative action,” Obama and Mr. Fisher wrote, “this stems at least in part from an accurate assessment of [that] they are most likely to lose in any re-division game. “
Mr. Obama rejected the idea that engaging Reagan Democrats required giving in to white grievances. Center supporters at the Democratic Leadership Council – then headed by Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas – he warned against backing out in the civil rights battle. It was also a mistake, he argues, for moderates to jostle for middle ground that antisemitists tacitly pin their hopes on a collective racial epiphany. Neither of them understand that bringing the conversation back to economics is the best way to defeat the right. Instead of curtailing their ambitions to court wealthy suburbanites, Democrats must accept “a long-term, structural change that could disrupt the zero-sum equation that renders blacks disproportionate.” force [against] only the helpless whites are a little bit worse.”
You might think it’s strange to hear Mr. Obama speak as if he’s just come from a meeting of American democratic socialists. But despite his days as a GQ In the past, a Marxist, he appreciated the deeply rooted class politics of the left into the next phase of his career.
All parts of Mr. Obama’s plan fit together: an electoral strategy designed to turn Democrats into the party of workers; a policy agenda oriented around inclusive economic reform; and a belief that American democracy can bring about real change. By combining political calculus with moral vision, Democrats could revive March in the Washington coalition and — ultimately — political transition.
Holding different elements of this program on the page easier than in real life. By the time Mr. Obama rose to stardom at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, his policy ambitions had shrunk dramatically. But he continued to stick to key elements of the game plan outlined in “The politics of transition.” When Mr. Obama berated experts for dividing America into red states and blue states, it was not a stupid celebration of national harmony. It was a strategic attempt to pull the venom out of the culture wars, allowing Democrats to win back polarized working-class voters into the GOP And it elected him president twice. .
