What led to President Obama’s phenomenal rise in both politics and popular culture? Chicago Public Library and the Freedom Museum present Jabari Asim, editor of the NAACP’s The Crisis magazine, who discusses his new book, What Obama Means:…For Our Culture, Our Politics, Our Future. In this sharp analysis of the Obama phenomenon, Asim explains how Obama’s very ascendance into the political mainstream is a watershed moment in our nation’s history with implications reaching far beyond his election as President.

Recorded Thursday, February 19, 2009 at Harold Washington Library Center.