Andrew Young on President-elect Barack Obama

ADAORA UDOJI:

It’s been a bit of a wild ride for Georgia voters. The results were looking a little bittersweet last night, because despite some early signs by early voters that the state could swing blue, it was looking red.

But now the Associated Press reports both the presidential race and a seemingly-contested Senate race are too close to call. Last night you wouldn’t have guessed that Democrats were on the verge of losing a Senate seat and also not contributing to Barack Obama’s win.

By the way, thousands were celebrating the Obama victory downtown at the Hyatt Regency Hotel and it’s really a story about generations. It’s about passing of the baton from one generation of black leaders to another. And before I get to a conversation I had with Ambassador Andrew Young, the former Atlanta mayor and U.S. congressman and Ambassador to the UN, I want to share with you, Patrik Henry Bass, Senior Editor at Essence and John, what the revered civil rights leader, Reverend Joseph Lowery told the crowd he felt as he voted:

REV. JOSEPH LOWERY:

When it dawned on me what that slip, that card meant that I had voted and I would know that my vote was gonna count for a black man to be the 44th President, my stomach tightened up, my eyes filled with water and I looked at the 2 or 300 people in that room with me and I shouted, hallelujah –

[SHOUTS AND CHEERS FROM CROWD]

– hallelujah.

ADAORA UDOJI:

Reverend Lowery, he brought down the house with that one.

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:

Wow, amen.

[BOTH SPEAK AT ONCE]

ADAORA UDOJI:

Second – yeah, he, he did. He’s an amazing man. He’s in his 80s and he hasn’t been well lately but he made it to the Hyatt to address this crowd on this historic night, on that history night last night. And seconds after the contest was called for Barack Obama, I spoke to Ambassador Young.

The streets were going crazy, you could hear horns honking and people screaming in the background and I asked Ambassador Young about the symbolism of an Obama presidency.

AMBASSADOR YOUNG:

Martin Luther King’s statement was that America would live out the true meaning of its creeds. And one of the –

ADAORA UDOJI:

Is this a true meaning of its creeds?

AMBASSADOR YOUNG:

This, this is the beginning of living out. It means that a majority of people are beginning to – as I say, they – they chose faith in America over fear about racial differences.

ADAORA UDOJI:

What about the symbolism of it? It’s one thing to celebrate picking –

[OVERTALK]

AMBASSADOR YOUNG:

You can’t eat symbols. You cannot eat symbols. And nothing tastes worse than a symbol that doesn’t fill a need. And so, I – I – I shy away from all the symbols because now – we’ve got to deliver. Now, I think we can.

ADAORA UDOJI:

So he got pragmatic at the end of that, but what was interesting – when I asked him how do we get to this number [?], he got philosophical.

[BEEP]

AMBASSADOR YOUNG:

It’s almost like he’s a God-made man for this moment. He’s got an African father but there’s – he had none of the black suffering and experience we had in the South or in the big cities of the North. He was given a, a different kind of childhood in Hawaii, but also in Indonesia and surrounded by Chinese Muslims.

And so, he’s – he’s grown up almost with a global cultural DNA.

ADAORA UDOJI:

And just given the Ambassador’s experiences, listen to him comparing JFK, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama.

[BEEP]

AMBASSADOR YOUNG:

I have never met anybody any better – any better prepared. I thought that Clinton was a brilliant young man. I know that Jimmy Carter was one of the smartest men I’ve ever known. John Kennedy. But I haven’t seen anybody as calm and cool, as collected and as disciplined and organized in his ability –

Jimmy Carter was personally organized. But he couldn’t organize the people around him. This has been almost a flawless campaign.

ADAORA UDOJI:

No question.

AMBASSADOR YOUNG:

If he can run a government or end a war with the same efficiency that he has run this campaign, we’re on the path to glory.

ADAORA UDOJI:

What did you learn about America, if anything, through this election process?

AMBASSADOR YOUNG:

That America is not – as bad as I sometimes think it is.

ADAORA UDOJI:

And his advice to Obama: Don’t celebrate too long. There’s far too much work to do. So there you have two voices.

[OVERTALK]

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:

That’s certainly the case.

ADAORA UDOJI:

Two giants – two giant civil rights leaders passing the baton to Barack Obama.

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:

Well, you talked about that generational split.

ADAORA UDOJI:

Yeah?

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:

I’m wondering if that was reflected –

ADAORA UDOJI:

Tactics?

[OVERTALK]

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:

– if that was reflected in, in the group that you spoke with. What – what did the younger voices have to say down there in Atlanta at the Hyatt, as the announcements were being made?

ADAORA UDOJI:

It was – I can’t believe that someone like me could rise to that level. That gives me hope for myself. I can do better. That gives me hope for my children. There was less of a looking back and comparing and looking at where we’ve come to America, but it really was about looking forward and what that means about how people feel about themselves.

PATRIK HENRY BASS:

Right but, Adaora, Georgia has never really done a good job of, of creating new African-American political leaders. We still see John Lewis, we still see Lowery, we still see Andrew Young. Did you – are there any up and coming, you know, African American leaders that have been identified down there?

ADAORA UDOJI:

Well, I think there’s been jealous [?] – when you’re talking about national organizations, who’s now running the NAACP. And he’s – what is he – Patrik, 35?

PATRICK HENRY BASS:

Yeah, he’s very young, you know, went to Oxford, you know? I’m just saying in terms of Georgia, anyone else on the – in that landscape down there, you know, last night, did you see or – or is anyone talking about anyone down there? Georgia tends to, you know, gravitate towards the older civil rights leaders. And, and I’d sort of heard a little bit of that in Andrew Young’s – in his powerful statements about Barack Obama, you know, sort of being a pulse black, you know, not having – what was he saying, the – the black suffering that, you know, so many people in the South had experienced.

And I think a younger generation of African Americans in the South may not feel that way at all.

ADAORA UDOJI:

I think there’s, there’s mixed emotions when you talk about this issue that you’ve brought up about post-race. I don’t – I didn’t hear anyone speaking about that. And there certainly are a slew of young men and women that we’ve come across who may not have big names here in Atlanta or even in Georgia but who are certainly on the path and are inspired, in many ways, by what Barack Obama has accomplished.

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:

Well, it’s a — you know, energy is going to be needed [LAUGHS] to deal with, you know, 700 billion dollars that is sort of the first thing on Barack Obama’s desk. Fortunately, he has a little time to reflect before Inauguration.

But a great moment down there in Atlanta, and many, many moments shared all around the country. Patrick Henry Bass, thanks so much for being with us –

PATRICK HENRY BASS:

Thank you, as always.

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:

– for this hour. We are always at The Takeaway. We’re on at The Takeaway in New York, we’re on at The Takeaway all over the country. We’re on down there in Atlanta, right, Adaora?

ADAORA UDOJI:

We are.

[MUSIC UP AND UNDER]

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:

We’re asking you to tell us what’s on your mind today after the election. What just happened?

[BEEP]

CARMELA:

My name is Carmela and I’m from Long Island. Yes, it’s historical but we didn’t elect Barack Obama and Joe Biden just to be historical. We knew they would be the best people for the job.

[TONES]

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:

Echoing Andy Young there. What – what is it, symbols taste bad? You can’t eat symbols?

CARMELA:

[LAUGHS] Right.

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:

Nothing tastes worse than a symbol –

CARMELA:

You can’t eat them.

JOHN HOCKENBERRY:

– that doesn’t work out. Call us at 877-8MYTAKE or mytake@thetakeaway.org. We’re also sharing photos, videos and audio from your voting day at America’s Exit Poll, still open. Thetakeaway.com. I’m John Hockenberry.

ADAORA UDOJI:

I’m Adaora Udoji, and this is The Takeaway.