The Brian Lehrer Show Defining the Decade
Nov 13, 2025
Jelani Cobb, the Dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a staff writer for The New Yorker, dives into the turbulent threads of recent history. He reflects on his parents' Great Migration and its impact on his dedication to public education. Cobb explores what he calls 'the parameters of hope,' contrasting optimism from the Obama era to the disillusionment after George Floyd's death. He connects the Voting Rights Act and immigration reform to today's political climate, delving into the nativism highlighted in Trump’s rhetoric.
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Hope Meets Political Limits
- The Obama era revealed that transformative political rhetoric meets practical limits once governance begins.
- Jelani Cobb frames 2012–2016 as hopeful but constrained by real-world political and social parameters.
Optimism Faded By Later Reckonings
- Cobb says he was more optimistic in 2012 because the backlash to multiracial progress had not yet fully formed.
- By George Floyd's death, he saw society becoming less sympathetic to similar incidents than years earlier.
Birtherism Fueled Broader Nativism
- Cobb argues birtherism and attacks on Obama mixed racial resentment with broader nativist themes that Trump amplified.
- He sees those personal attacks as a necessary ingredient for Trump's rise, alongside other appeals.
