Skip Navigation
Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates - Ta-Nehisi Coates is a senior editor for The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues for TheAtlantic.com and the magazine. He is the author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle. More

Born in 1975, the product of two beautiful parents. Raised in West Baltimore—not quite The Wire, but sometimes ill all the same. Studied at the Mecca for some years in the mid-’90s. Emerged with a purpose, if not a degree. Slowly migrated up the East Coast with a baby and my beloved, until I reached the shores of Harlem. Wrote some stuff along the way.

Bill Clinton Is Marion Barry

By Ta-Nehisi Coates
Jan 25 2008, 10:12 AM ET Comment

Well as I saw him seven years ago. Man I'm getting old. Anyway the piece basically looks at Clinton as a more competent Marion Barry.

The Essence:

Both men are from the South and were raised poor by single mothers. Both have had their potentially impressive careers marred by an inability to manage their appetites for lust. And both are the bane of white conservatives and Washington's elite. Barry was despised by the black upper crust of D.C.'s Gold Coast, which dismissed him as an unsophisticated �Bama just as Georgetown socialites snubbed Clinton as trailer trash. Clinton left the country in vastly better shape than Barry left the District, but both have been awarded a moral pass from people who specialize in offering redemption to wayward souls.

Man, I remember how much fun I had writing this piece. I was depressed as hell, playing Everquest 18 hours a day. Besides basic functions of fathering and biology, all I did was write. Props to Stephanie Mencimer for helping this piece come to life. Anyway, enough nostalgia



Presented by

More at The Atlantic

Summer Music Preview: 29 New Albums to Check Out Summer Music Preview: 29 New Albums
The Fastest-Dying Jobs of This Generation (and What Replaced Them) The Fastest-Dying Jobs of This Generation
Video of the Day: Everything Mitt Romney Likes, Autotuned Video of the Day: Everything Mitt Romney Likes, Autotuned
Ken Burns on Why His Formula for a Great Story Is 1+1=3 Ken Burns's Formula for a Great Story
The Middling Hilarity of 'The Dictator' Baron Cohen Moves Toward the Center in 'The Dictator'

Join the Discussion

After you comment, click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be asked to log in or register.
blog comments powered by Disqus
Special Report
Capitals of the Connected World The Atlantic Capitals of the Connected World
Mapping the new global power structure—an Atlantic special report Read more ›

Just In

View All Correspondents

The Biggest Story in Photos

Views From the Night Sky: London and the U.K.

May 16, 2012

Subscribe Now

SAVE 59%! 10 issues JUST $2.45 PER COPY

Facebook

Newsletters

Sign up to receive our free newsletters

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

Ta-Nehisi Coates
from the Magazine

Why Do So Few Blacks Study the Civil War?

Ta-Nehisi Coates is an Atlantic senior editor.

Fade to White

A filmmaker maps Austin’s shifting ethnic landscape.

The Legacy of Malcolm X

Why his vision lives on in Barack Obama