GOP whining: Gwen Ifill

When I first heard that Gwen Ifill was moderating the VP debate, I thought it was genius. She's an African American woman and very respected journalist who works for PBS. Given her credentials and the fact that she is both a woman and African American, I could not imagine anyone having an issue. I was wrong.

Today comes news that the Republicans are upset that Ms. Ifill has a book coming out on my birthday/Inauguration day (Jan. 20, 2009) called The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama. When the elections commission deliberated and announced that Ifill would moderate the VP debate, her book was already public.

Previews I've seen of the book indicate that it is NOT a pro-(nor anti-) Obama book. It is an analysis regarding race and politics in this extraordinary political year. Simply writing about race does not make someone pro-Obama, because he's Black. I could write plenty about gender in this election year, but it doesn't make me pro-Hillary or pro-Palin (GOD NO!).

On Amazon, the book is describe in this way:

In THE BREAKTHROUGH, veteran journalist Gwen Ifill surveys the American political landscape, shedding new light on the impact of Barack Obama’s stunning presidential campaign and introducing the emerging young African American politicians forging a bold new path to political power.

Ifill argues that the Black political structure formed during the Civil Rights movement is giving way to a generation of men and women who are the direct beneficiaries of the struggles of the 1960s. She offers incisive, detailed profiles of such prominent leaders as Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, and U.S. Congressman Artur Davis of Alabama, and also covers up-and-coming figures from across the nation. Drawing on interviews with power brokers like Senator Obama, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Vernon Jordan, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, and many others, as well as her own razor-sharp observations and analysis of such issues as generational conflict and the "black enough" conundrum, Ifill shows why this is a pivotal moment in American history.

THE BREAKTHROUGH is a remarkable look at contemporary politics and an essential foundation for understanding the future of American democracy.

This sounds like a perfectly legitimate and necessary research project. Seems more to me like an analysis of how Black politics have shifted from the days of Jesse Jackson, and some of the internal community conflicts because of the generational shifts.

Sub-text to the false Ifill controversy: Black woman must be pro-Obama. Race trumps gender. Ifill recognizes racial dynamics in her latest book. Thus she cannot be objective in doing her job.

Bottom line is that the GOP is whining because of this: