Does Obama's Election Mean 'a Different America?'

Summary

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"My guess is, at some point you've told [your children] you can grow up and be whatever you want to be," [Eric Kearney] said. "In your heart, you knew that that wasn't true. My daddy said it to me; I said it to my kids. If [Barack Obama] is president, that whole dynamic changes. Because the face of the most powerful country on Earth is a Black face. It changes everything."

"I don't know whether it's audacious," said Ohio State political science professor Herbert Asher. "Sometimes audacious means too brash or too bold or unjustified." In fact, Asher said, the election of Obama "would be a signature moment in American history. For those of us who have a longer time perspective, it would be a very accurate observation on his part."

"I don't know," said Kearney. "I would hope not. But the fact that of the matter is, what Barack said is absolutely true. Congressman Arthur Davis [D-Alabama] gives a very moving speech why he absolutely has no choice about why he has to back Obama, and it's around that same theme."

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Does Obama's Election Mean 'a Different America?'

In front of a National Urban League audience that seemed tailor-made for his appeal, the self-proclaimed "skinny kid with the funny name" made a statement that could seem audacious to some, deadly accurate to others.

If Barack Obama is elected president, Obama told the venerable civil rights organization "America would look at itself differently" the day after his ina...

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