Roundtable: Democrats' Agenda; Oprah and African Girls

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FARAI CHIDEYA, host:

This is NEWS & NOTES. I am Farai Chideya.

On today's Roundtable: Democrats roll out their 100-hour agenda, and will Barack Obama's early years come back to haunt him?

Joining us is E.R. Shipp, professor in journalism at Hofstra University School of Communication. She is in New York along with John McWhorter, Manhattan Institute senior fellow in public policy. And Jeff Obafemi Carr, host of the radio show "Freestyle" is in Nashville.

So welcome everybody, and let's talk about the Dems. They have these plans to kick off their legislative campaign with a 100-hour agenda this week. The issues are basic and domestic, notably the price of prescription drugs and congressional ethics. Now these are issues that could be difficult for the Republicans to oppose. How do the Republicans position themselves, John?

Mr. JOHN MCWHORTER (Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute): Well, in this case, it seems to me that what we have to keep in mind is that all of the things that the Democrats want to argue for sound good. However, the fact is that almost all of these points are the sorts of things that you can have delicious debates about that indicate different ways of seeing how the political system works, how America should work. And I hope that we have an occasion for that.

So, for example, raising the minimum wage. Of course, it seems rather ding-dong but there are very compassionate and very smart people who have arguments against. I think it's very important, for example, that small businesses possibly be offered tax relief because that is where many studies have shown that minimum wage hikes do have a negative impact in terms of employing people. And when we talk about employing, remember we don't only mean pipe-smoking Bob(ph) who is 50 years old and lives in the suburbs, but we mean young, often colored and troubled people.

Or even another example is something like the prescription drug issue, and of course there's a memory-friendly idea that of course the government should be able to negotiate for lower prices for drugs. Well, it's not that simple. The issue is that the government can't leave the table and therefore in some cases can't drive the kind of hard bargain that we might see.

So I am interested in seeing the sorts of debates over these things -

Professor E.R. SHIPP (Journalism, Hofstra University): John is filibustering here.

Mr. MCWHORTER: Sorry, E.R. But these are common positions…

CHIDEYA: It's a time for filibustering.

Prof. SHIPP: He is filibustering.

Mr. MCWHORTER: That's what the Republicans should do.

CHIDEYA: All right, E.R. Since you broke it up, jump on in.

Prof. SHIPP: No. I think they are smart and that they are showing that the Democrats can maybe get something done. And these are easy issues in many ways, - prescription drug relief, stem cell research, making that more available, making some kind of system possible to have ethical conduct in the House and the Senate.

All of that sounds good, so this is going to bring us back to maybe "Leave it to Beaver" days or something. We're going to have a good Congress doing good things in a 100 hours. It's going to be - it's getting the attention that we are giving it now. It's going to get a lot of attention. But it will show the Congress on speed as opposed to what's opposite of the speed, Valium? Or whatever it is. It's going to show they're doing something, because we had a do-nothing Congress.

Mr. MCWHORTER: Yeah.

Prof. SHIPP: And that's what they are trying to remedy.

CHIDEYA: So Jeff -

Mr. JEFF OBAFEMI CARR (Host, "Freestyle"): Go ahead, sorry.

CHIDEYA: Go ahead, Jeff.

Mr. OBAFEMI CARR: No, I was going to say that I think that in the question of -in answer to the question what the Republicans are going to do, it reminds me of an old spiritual that says: Get on board, children, there is room for many or more. That's what I think they're going to have to do here, and that's to get on board.

The Democrats have learned from the mistake of the overzealous Republican brigade of '94. Just because somebody gives you a rope, it doesn't make you an instant cowboy. Now scientific studies have proven that the very same endorphins that flow when we take drugs are the same endorphins that flow when we have accomplishments, however small.

When I used to do leadership training, I would tell people you've got to take the small issues first because they give you those endorphins, they give you that natural high as a community and allow you attack bigger issues. And I think that's what the Democrats are doing here. They want to boost the individual and collective morale of the nation by picking small, yet important accomplishable goals.

Ethics package delivery, compensatory cuts that are going to keep the deficit low, moving a step toward - a step toward - a living wage. These are ways that the Democrats I think are going to try to give themselves as well as the nation a much needed natural high.

Prof. SHIPP: But they also - we are also seeing that, according to the latest polls, that the country is much more divided now than it was in '94 when the Republicans thought they had a mandate to come in with their contract. So it's going to be tough once we get past these so-called easy issues. It's going to be very tough on them.

Mr. OBAFEMI CARR: If I can stick in one last thing. I think we also should just keep in mind that there is a certain amount of drama going on here. This is 100 days and it kind of harkens back to that Camelot-ever phrase.

But in terms of whether these things are actually going to be able to get done, we really can't be sure. So we have to remember that there is hard work ahead no matter how many days we happen to be able to count and no matter how resonant the phrase is.

CHIDEYA: Well, I wonder if you guys started using drug analogies because you knew that our next topic was Barack Obama. He has become a media darling and an important political player. And in absolute candor in his first memoir he wrote that he could have been a junkie pothead. That's where I'd been - excuse me, that's where I've been headed, the final fatal role of the young would-be black man.

He talks about doing cocaine, which is something that probably a lot of politicians have done but few would admit. Is his candor at the time when he didn't seem headed for potentially the highest office in the land going to come back and bite him? John.

Mr. MCWHORTER: Well, I really don't think so at this point because I think we are getting real about it. And it would be very sad if it did. Imagine if somebody in the 1920s were running and claimed that they had never taken a drink because of Prohibition. What that would say about the society and what that would look like later if somebody as young as Senator Obama admits that he has used things.

And I really admire that he doesn't pretend that all he used was pot. And people who have grown up in that era, certainly it's at the point where it was a norm - and it has nothing whatsoever to do with whether or not you should be in public office - and so I admire that candor. I think it's time for more people his age to say things like that. I certainly did cocaine when I was around that age. It wasn't just once and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Prof. SHIPP: I'm shocked.

Mr. MCWHORTER: I miss it sometimes. And it's time that we understand that people could be…

Mr. OBAFEMI CARR: (Unintelligible)

Mr. MCWHORTER: …I can't wait until they do it. And serious people…

CHIDEYA: Anyone else have any confessions they want to put on the air?

Mr. MCWHORTER: …can admit these things.

Prof. SHIPP: No, I have never done pot. Mama, you hear me, I have never done pot. And I've never done cocaine. But anyway…

Mr. MCWHORTER: I did pot, too.

Prof. SHIPP: I want to say on Obama, I don't quite understand why this is an issue other than the fact that we're in a new year. We're in a slow new cycle, other than deaths of various heads of state. But there is no real reason for this to be an issue right now. This book - he wrote this book over a decade ago, I believe, and he has been candid about this in all of his public speakings.

So there is no reason for anybody to suddenly think that this is a scandal that will be keep him out of running for president. I think what should keep him from running for president is that he doesn't have a track record and he hasn't really done anything to prove that he is ready to be the commander in chief.

Mr. OBAFEMI CARR: (unintelligible)

CHIDEYA: Jeff -

Mr. OBAFEMI CARR: Go ahead, Farai.

CHIDEYA: You know, it seems to me that the way that this story is being framed is not so much about attack journalism, which certainly happens to plenty of politicians, but more about a real cultural change where President Bush, I mean you think about the current president, has never said anything about his history of substances.

People know that he drank and he does talk about being someone who doesn't drink now. But when people ask him anything about cocaine or any other substance, he says the past is the past, I refuse to answer that. This is apparently a sea change that Barack Obama is bringing in to be more candid. Is that a good thing?

Mr. OBAFEMI CARR: I think it's a good thing, but I also want to introduce another element that I almost hate to be the one to bring to light. And it occurred to me when I was out promoting, as you all know, a film a couple of years ago that was a faith-based movie. I often found myself on the right-wing conservative television and radio circuit, and because I'm a nobody of course, I was asked constantly to tell my story, particularly by our white brothers and sisters.

I was asked leading questions about my background, and because I grew up young, black male and in the inner city, there seemed to be an expectation that I would talk about how I had to sell drugs before I saw the light and I did all these horrible things. And when I didn't have that extreme of a narrative, there was outright disappointment in their eyes, because sadly there seemed to be an expectation that black people, especially young black men, all have that same kind of hard street-life story.

And sometimes people salivate on it because they want to hear the redemptive element. On a more important note, though, it won't hurt Obama. I believe that it does speak to the nature of redemption and the search for identity that a lot of the population - black and white and etcetera - goes through at some point in their individual and collective lives. So I think it's fine and it's good that he is keeping it real. We're in a generation where people want you to keep it real.

Prof. SHIPP: And we're talking about his teenage years. He is now 40-something years old. So we're talking about a kid who has…

CHIDEYA: He stopped in college.

Prof. SHIPP: …has overcome. Yeah.

CHIDEYA: So it's definitely something that is in the past. If you're just joining us, I'm Farai Chideya. This is NEWS & NOTES.

We have just heard from E.R. Shipp, professor in journalism at Hofstra University School of Communication; John McWhorter, Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow in Public Policy; and, Jeff Obafemi Carr, host of the radio show Freestyle.

Let's move along to - you talk about, Jeff, about the need for redemption and how sometimes people put folks in the box. But Oprah's school - media mogul Oprah Winfrey opened a school for disadvantaged girls in South Africa. The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls has 152 students, can accommodate 450, 28 buildings, $40 million. And Oprah told CNN it is a promise fulfilled.

Ms. OPRAH WINFREY (Talk Show Host; Founder, Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls): The dream for me was to create a school that I would most want to attend. So from the very beginning I sat down with architects and I said, we have to have a library and the fireplace so that the girls can - it can be a place of learning as well as living for them.

We have to have a theater because this is a school for leaders; and in order to be a leader, you have to have a voice. And to have a voice, you need oration. So the idea for the school came about based from what I felt would be an honor for the African girls.

CHIDEYA: E.R., what are we to make of this? Obviously, you can't go wrong giving people a chance to go to school. What are we to make of this idea of creating one elite academy for - even once it reaches 450 girls, that leaves a whole bunch more in Africa, in Southern Africa, who need help. Will this inspire, will this be the rising tide that lifts other boats?

Prof. SHIPP: Well that's the key question. You used the word elite, and it is the elite. It's kind of the Spellman College of South Africa I guess we would say. I am thankful that Oprah has taken this jump and made this move because it maybe will give more people the incentive to do something. It's given me the incentive, by the way. I just told somebody this morning, I'm going to volunteer to go and teach over there for a little while in her school.

CHIDEYA: Wow.

Prof. SHIPP: I think, I want to do something. But the people she brought with her, including people like Spike Lee, Mariah Carey, Maya Angelou, Sidney Poitier, Chris Rock, Cicely Tyson, Tina Turner - all those people can be inspiration for not just the girls but for all the young people on the continent. The continent is - the cradle of civilization is one of the most messed up places on earth. So anything that one can do to highlight the needs in Africa, I'd say God bless. That includes Madonna adopting a baby, by the way.

Mr. MCWHORTER: You know something, I think there are two parts to the story. It's obviously a wonderful thing. But one thing that does come to mind is that I think it was about ten years ago that Oprah had a project where, if I'm not mistaken, she was giving $30,000, which was a little more money then, to seven inner city families, and the idea was to lift them out of poverty with counseling, et cetera, from a certain conglomeration of centers.

And the fact of the matter is that, for one thing, there was a certain amount of screening for the better candidates, like, for example, the ones who, with all acknowledgement to what Jeff said, the ones who did not have any drug problems and some other things. And the fact of the matter is that nothing remotely significant came out of that experiment.

So all that is to say is at the first part of the story is that Oprah starting it. And I think it's a beautiful thing, even if it's one thing, even if it's somewhat elite. But we must get over that American media short-term memory problem. And we have to go back in four years and just see whether or not it's worked. And if it has, hooray. And if it hasn't, figure why it hasn't and then seek other strategies.

So I just hope that we look at it later as well as now.

CHIDEYA: Jeff, South Africa is a country that I personally love and I've visited several times, and I'm going to go back again soon. And in some ways, there is a lot of connection between the challenges that South African youth face and the challenges that African-American youth face. There is a distinction or a conversation going on I think within the black community over issues like vouchers. You know, do you save your kids from the public school system or do you rely on changing that system from within.

What do you think that Oprah's school will do to a conversation perhaps on a global level about - can you pick out a few of the best students and lift them up, or do you really need to change the system wholesale?

Mr. OBAFEMI CARR: Well, here post-Kwanzaa I think it's speaks to the nature of, agree with it or not, what is called kujichagulia - self-determination - the ability to grab the reins and take control.

There are some people who would be critics of this and say, hey $40 million in South Africa, you could have given me one or two million and I could have opened a school for impoverished kids in Anytown, U.S.A. But the fact remains that it was probably easier for her to do and to be more self-determining in South Africa at this time.

And the fact that Oprah possesses the I-can-do-what-I-want-where-I-want kind of money and that this is fulfilling a promise that was made to Nelson Mandela, who is a worldwide symbol of freedom and perseverance.

The world is getting smaller. If Oprah's heart is lying in South Africa right now, then bless her for stepping up to the plate where her heart is and putting her money where her mouth is. So I think that…

Prof. SHIPP: But, you know, the other thing is that…

Mr. OBAFEMI CARR: …this is the step in the right direction.

Prof. SHIPP: The other thing, Jeff, is that she's raising the profile of females. And that's the big issue globally, that young girls and young women are denigrated and they have no value. So if she can uplift the role of women in the world, then that is a positive thing. And we know that as women go, so goes the nation.

CHIDEYA: E.R., before we let you go, you all go, and we only have another minute or so, tell me what your dream would be, since you said you want to teach there. What would you love to do?

Prof. SHIPP: I would love just to go there and, you know, I'm crazy, OK. So I could teach anything from religion to cooking chitlings. But I want to talk to them about reading and reading to each other, and talking to each other about books. So I can do all of that stuff.

Mr. OBAFEMI CARR: Yeah, I'd love to go with you, E.R.

Prof. SHIPP: Come on!

Mr. OBAFEMI CARR: …and it's just that - I mean seriously. Because just as a male, I think it's just as important that they see positive male role models, too. And I think that's how you change the nature of just how not only girls are perceived but how we move forward as a race of people, human people.

Mr. MCWHORTER: I'll be watching both of you.

CHIDEYA: All right.

Mr. OBAFEMI CARR: Come on over, John. Come on over.

Prof. SHIPP: And bring your cell phone on the plane, John.

(Soundbite of laughter)

CHIDEYA: Oh, someone else noticed. All right, this has been E.R. Shipp, professor in journalism, Hofstra University School of Communication; John McWhorter, Manhattan Institute senior fellow in public policy; and Jeff Obafemi Carr, host of the radio show “Freestyle.” Thank you all.

Prof. SHIPP: Thank you.

Mr. OBAFEMI CARR: Thanks, Farai.

Mr. MCWHORTER: Thank you.

CHIDEYA: And as always, if you'd like to comment on any of the topics you've heard on the Roundtable, you can call us at 202-408-3330. That's 202-408-3330, or send us an e-mail. Just log on to NPR.org and click on Contact Us. And please be sure to tell us where you're writing from and how to pronounce your name.

Nest on NEWS & NOTES, a tale of technology. Some kids aren't as wired as they need to be. Plus, tech expert Mario Armstrong explains why home computers give students a heads up.

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