60 Minutes With The Obamas
why the 21st century is off to a great start
2008-11-17
By Ronda Racha Penrice

Watching Barack Obama handle Steve Kroft’s questions with ease on “60 Minutes,” his first full television one-on-one interview as President-elect, only reaffirmed that America did indeed make the right choice. Like Jackie Robinson’s first year in Major League Baseball, “60 Minutes” left no doubt that Obama will navigate his historic first with the same grace under pressure.

And the pressure is substantial, as Kroft reminded him in the first segment of the interview. This was no meet and greet. Kroft and Obama are almost like old friends now. Kroft interviewed Obama in February 2007 when he first announced his candidacy, followed up with him when he and Hillary Clinton were still in a tight race, as well as when he ultimately became the Democrats’ top contender. So Kroft has delivered his share of tough questions to Obama and this interview was not completely warm and fuzzy.

For the first half of the program, hard questions about the economy as well as a possible bailout in Detroit dominated the conversation. Obama’s answers were sharp. When pressed about his cabinet decisions, he kept his cool. He informed Kroft that Republicans would be represented but cut off the questioning before revealing too much more. Appearing completely capable, intelligent and compassionate, qualities any president should have, Barack Obama, not Kroft, was in control.

He didn’t forget the little man either. “We have not focused on foreclosures and homeowners as much as I would like,” he told Kroft as they discussed the economy. “If we don’t have a clear, focused program on homeowners by the time I take office. We will after I take office,” he assured those of us on Main Street waiting for our lifelines.

It was the second half of the program, however, that truly elevated the interview. Who can ever get enough of the dynamic duo of Michelle and Barack? Kroft was sure to ask them about that night and if the reality of the win had really set in. Of course it truly hasn’t yet. When Kroft asked Obama the racial significance of his win, Obama made the win personal by playing on familial and human pride instead of just racial pride.

With Michelle by his side, the President-elect said that he really got the historical significance when his mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, grabbed his hand and squeezed it election night. “You had this sense of, well, what’s she thinking?” he said. “For a black woman who grew up in the ‘50s, you know, in a segregated Chicago, to watch her daughter become first lady of the United States.”

And what a first lady she is: Beautiful, intelligent, compassionate, capable and witty, plus a great mother who puts family first. Who but Michelle has dared to characterize her husband’s achievement of becoming the 44th President of the United States as the ultimate home office job? “I envision the kids coming home from school and being able to run across the way to the Oval Office and see their dad before they start their homework,” she told Kroft.

Not only are the Obamas redefining what the President and his first family look like, they are also redefining what our familial roles are. Obama relishes his role as a father and it’s more than refreshing to see a Black man, especially the 44th President of the United States, glow because his girls can jump into bed with their mom and dad.

Barack and Michelle Obama represent a generation of African Americans who can be more comfortable in their own skin. A decade ago, would a brother in Barack Obama’s position have mentioned that the humble apartment he lived in when Michelle and he began dating was next to the Harold’s Chicken Shack? On “60 Minutes” nonetheless? Would he have been comfortable granting Ebony Magazine his first President-elect interview?

We are all familiar with the “double consciousness” DuBois discussed in The Souls of Black Folk. True to his words, the color line was indeed the problem of the 20th century. In the 21st century, it seems to be easing up, especially now that two of the most capable of people in this nation just happen to be Black like us.     

Veteran freelance writer and self-diagnosed television junkie Ronda Racha Penrice is the author of African American History For Dummies.