By ESTHER J. CEPEDA
CHICAGO -- I bought "More Than Ready," the new book by Cecilia Muñoz, after hearing her describe what it was like to work as a Latina in the Obama White House at the height of the surge of unaccompanied children to the border.
Muñoz, who served as director of the White House Domestic Policy Council under Obama, spoke with political consultant David Axelrod on his podcast "The Axe Files," which aired April 30. She told him about her background as a midwestern Latina whose family hailed from Bolivia, how she followed in her father's footsteps by attending the University of Michigan, and how her professional path led her to the White House.
She also told Axelrod that she had to explain the multiracial, multiethnic Latino community to every stakeholder she worked with throughout her career before she even got a chance to talk to them about policy.
Muñoz also broached the pushback she got from her former allies in immigrant advocacy groups when she became part of an administration that had promised to fix the broken immigration system. Many people subsequently faulted Muñoz for Obama's missteps, as well as for his legacy of ramping up deportations.
"I knew the moment I took the job ... that I would be criticized over immigration enforcement," Muñoz told Axelrod. "The tools that are available to you, especially when you are administering a broken set of laws, are grossly and crazily insufficient. ... I knew that there would be people in my life who would never forgive me for playing a role in governing, and that's turned out to be true. [But] we did a lot of good, and it was worth all of it."
I cannot overstate how much I enjoyed learning about Muñoz as a person, as a policymaker and as a lone Latina voice in the Obama White House on that podcast. That's probably why her book left me wanting so much more.
Its sprawling subtitle, which I didn't even see because I was determined to start reading the book as quickly as possible, is "Be Strong and Be You … and Other Lessons for Women of Color on the Rise."
There is absolutely no question that "More Than Ready" delivers on that promise.
In addition to Muñoz's experiences, she weaves in the stories of other people who flourished as "firsts" in high-level positions. She also describes her White House support system, which her co-workers called "Team Latino."
But the big missing ingredient in this book is Muñoz herself.
For the most part, the book reads like she's struggling to get her own background out of the way in order to elevate the voices of other women and to summarize social science findings on the importance of diversity in the workplace.
While it's laudable that she puts others first -- that is (BEG ITAL)such (END ITAL)a Latina mom thing to do -- I wanted more Muñoz.
What was it really like being the only Latina in high-level White House meetings? And by this, I'm not suggesting name dropping or gossipy details about who-said-what, but tangible, vividly described examples of how policy is shaped when you are a short, soft-spoken woman with a Hispanic surname.
Muñoz talked a lot about "getting yelled at on television" and being attacked by those who disagreed with Obama's actions, but in no depth or detail, even though being targeted due to immigration is (BEG ITAL)de rigueur (END ITAL) for any Latina these days. Instead she described how important empathy and people skills are to a career -- sadly, many sections flirt with being too platitude-heavy to bear.
And, for Pete's sake, if Muñoz was going to mention being short nine separate times, surely she could have found more tense, maddening or even empowering examples to share about having successfully overcome the obstacle.
I did not dislike Muñoz's book. But I thirst for a different one -- full of detailed personal examples about how her family and her Michigander upbringing propelled her through a lifetime of "firsts" in a variety of roles. I want to really know how she survived on the president's staff through the worst of the immigration crises. And I wanted way more about how, with her husband's help in juggling home and career, she made the day-to-day of working at the White House a reality.
These are not inconsequential details, they're at the heart of what it means to be a Latinx woman starting out -- or trying to advance in a high-powered job -- at the very moment when the white men who towered over Muñoz at meetings are unhappy about being elbowed aside by short women of color.
Esther Cepeda's email address is [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @estherjcepeda.
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