Obama sees his race as an opportunity to bridge differences

Los Angeles, Jan 19, 2009
Gary Singh

Barack Hussein Obama always avoided calling attention to race during the campaign, sees his race as an opportunity to bridge differences, The Washington Post reported on Monday.

Last week in interview he said:

• There is an entire generation that will grow up taking for granted that the highest office in the land is filled by an African American.
• I mean, that's a radical thing. It changes how black children look at themselves. It also changes how white children look at black children. And I wouldn't underestimate the force of that.
• Ihope to use my s presidency as an example of how people can bridge differences.
• What I hope to model is a way of interacting with people who aren't like you and don't agree with you that changes the temper of our politics.
• Race relations becomes a subset of a larger problem in our society, which is we have a diverse, complicated society where people have a lot of different viewpoints
• Tomorrow, we will come together as one people on the same Mall where Dr. King's dream echoes still.
• I am making a commitment to you as your next president that we are going to make government work

But aside from the inescapable — the location of the Lincoln Memorial, where King gave his “I Have a Dream Speech,” and the fact that the King holiday comes a day before the inauguration – Obama’s Inauguration celebrations will do little to promote him as the carrier of that torch.

In Philadelphia, he said he hoped that Americans could “recognize ourselves in one another and bring everyone together — Democrats, Republicans and independents, north, south, east and west, black, white, Latino, Asian and Native American, gay and straight, disabled and not.”

The week before the Inauguration, Obama himself reminded the nation: “This Inauguration isn’t about me. It’s about all of us. At this defining moment in our history, it serves as our opportunity to come together in common purpose, united in our resolve to renew the promise of this nation and meet the challenges of our time

Obama to attend three private dinners to honor former secretary of State Colin Powell, Biden and Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, for their public service. Dinners at the Hilton Washington, National Building Museum and Union Station.

On the eve of his inauguration, President-elect Barack Obama visited wounded troops at a military hospital, helped paint a wall at a shelter for homeless teens and paid tribute to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the civil rights leader's national day. He said there can't be "idle hands" at a time of national hardship and pledged to make the government do its part. Obama made a morning visit to 14 injured vets from Iraq and Afghanistan at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

The only difference between Obama and these former presidents is that none of their family histories were fully acknowledged by others. Even though Obama is half-white, he strongly resembles his Kenyan father. And not only is Obama open about his ancestry, most people acknowledge him as a black man, which is why people identify Obama as the first black president of the United States

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