My it's Diane, on my mind, a call for ordinary people to take charge of our democracy. The election of Barack Obama had many

celebrating a post-racial era in the country, but Eddie Gloyd felt uneasy, a professor of African American

studies at Princeton. He worried Obama's presidency limited black political engagement as they and others

turned to a profit-like figure.

Since then, Paul has become increasingly convinced

that political leaders are not the answer.

I want us to understand how heroic we can be right where we are.

Eddie Claude is the ultra democracy in black and the bestseller Begin Again.

He's also a political commentator for MS NBC.

He joined me to talk about his new book titled,

We Are the Leaders We Have Been Looking For.

Eddie, what has changed for black Americans, if anything, since President Obama was in office?

I mean, I think there's a kind of... was in office.

I mean, I think there's a kind of deep realization that the nation hasn't really changed.

I think there's a sense in which a kind of pessimism has asserted itself in relation to the nation really being committed to the idea of a racially just society.

I think there are others who are just pursuing their self-interest, but I think there's a kind of general cynicism about the the trajectory of the nation at this point yeah.

So the ability of a black American to be in the Oval Office.

While he was there, the expectations may have been high, but then he didn't meet expectations or were too high,

did President Obama simply not function in a way that black Americans thought he might for them?

You know, I think it varies. I think that, you know, some expected him to deliver more substantive

policies to address black communities, urban centers, and the like.

Symbolically, you know, Obama's presidency was amazing.

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