All language subtitles for Obama.In.Pursuit.of.a.More.Perfect.Union.S01E01.720p.HMAX.WEBRip.x264-GalaxyTV

"We the people,

in order to form
a more perfect union."

Two hundred
and twenty-one years ago,

in a hall that still stands
across the street,

a group of men gathered,
and with these simple words,

launched America's improbable
experiment in democracy.

The document they produced
was eventually signed,

but ultimately unfinished.

It was stained by this nation's
original sin of slavery.

I chose to run for president

at this moment in history
because I believe deeply

that we cannot solve
the challenges of our time

unless we solve them together.

Unless we perfect our union

by understanding that
we may have different stories,

but we hold common hopes,

that we may not look the same

and may not have come
from the same place,

but we all want to move
in the same direction,

towards a better future
for our children and our grandchildren.

This belief comes
from my unyielding faith

in the decency and generosity
of the American people.

But it also comes from my own story.

I am the son of a Black man from Kenya
and a white woman from Kansas.

I was raised with the help
of a white grandfather

who survived the Depression
to serve in Patton's army

during World War II,

and a white grandmother who worked

on a bomber assembly line
at Fort Leavenworth

while he was overseas.

I've gone to some of the best schools
in America,

and I've lived in one
of the world's poorest nations.

I am married to a Black American

who carries within her the blood
of slaves and slave owners,

an inheritance we pass on
to our two precious daughters.

I have brothers, sisters, nieces,

nephews, uncles, and cousins
of every race and every hue

scattered across three continents.

And for as long as I live,
I will never forget

that in no other country on Earth
is my story even possible.

It's a story that hasn't made me
the most conventional of candidates.

But it is a story that has seared
into my genetic makeup

the idea that this nation is
more than the sum of its parts.

That out of many, we are truly one.

Contrary to the claims of some
of my critics, Black and white,

I have never been so naive
as to believe

that we can get beyond
our racial divisions

in a single election cycle
or with a single candidate.

But I have asserted
a firm conviction...

a conviction rooted
in my faith in God

and my faith in the American people...

that working together...

we can move beyond some
of our old racial wounds.

And that, in fact,
we have no choice.

We have no choice
if we are to continue

on the path of a more perfect union.

Meet Barack Obama, a Harvard-educated
Chicago civil rights attorney.

Obama has done and seen much
in his 34 years of life.

He was raised in Hawaii, Indonesia,

and is one of very few African Americans

who can boast of tangible
living proof of African roots.

My parents made me appreciate
different cultures,

uh, but the notion that one culture

or one race was superior
to another, uh,

was not in my, sort of,
wiring, so to speak.

My parents met in Hawaii.

My father was part of that
first wave of young Africans

to travel abroad
to get an education.

They ended up getting married,
having me.

My father decided he wanted
to get his PhD,

obtained a scholarship
to go to Harvard.

He moved there, but the separation made
it difficult for them to stay together.

Not to mention,
this was an interracial couple

at the brink of the civil rights
movement.

My mother was from Kansas,

and she was born to a pairn of fairly
typical midwestern,

white Americans in a lot of ways.

What made them remarkable
was that they ended up

being more open-minded

and accepting of differencen and
diversity than, I think,

was maybe typical of their generation
and their time.

So I don't think that there was a sense
of my difference,

racially, as I was growing up.

I mean, Hawaii was a...

sort of a unique
kind of melting pot.

Then, when I was six, my mother
remarried an Indonesian.

And we moved to Indonesia,

which certainly made me feel different,
but it had more to do with the fact

that I was an American
living in a third-world country

than the fact that I was
an African American.

It probably wasn't until I came back
from Indonesia

and I was around ten years old or so,

that it became an issue.

I obtained a scholarship
to a prep school in Hawaii.

At that point, suddenly,
I looked around and said,

"You know, there aren't that many folks
who look like me."

When he first came into school,
when Barry first came, I was excited.

I-- For me, being a little girl,
being--

I haven't been there
from first grade to fifth grade,

I had been by myself,
and when I say by myself,

I just mean because I'm the only
little Black girl there.

And being teased all the time was very
difficult for me.

I didn't like my own skin.
So when I saw him, I thought,

"Oh, he's just like me,
but he's a guy.

But he's the same color skin,
and maybe we can be allies,

maybe we can work together
and they won't tease me as much."

My mother had inculcated
in me the sense

that being African American was a--
a wonderful thing.

You know, that it was special
in some way.

I didn't really know my father
growing up.

He had left my mother
by the time I was two,

and I didn't really meet him again
until I was ten.

And basically learned of him

through the stories
my mother would tell

and my grandparents would tell me.

The consensus was he was the smartest
man they had ever met.

So, the image that I had
of being a Black American was--

was almost exclusively positive.

It's ironic, you know, that I got this
wonderful sort of Black history lesson

from this, uh, white woman from Kansas.

My mother really was somebody who
identified so greatly

with the civil rights movement
that that was almost our civil religion.

She was constantly talking
about King and Malcolm,

and the struggles that were taking place
in the United States.

Because of
prejudices and narrow-mindedness,

negroes have been held out
of the political arena,

but I do think that the day will come
in the not-too-distant future

when the negro vote itself
will be powerful enough

to be in a coalition

with, uh, liberals
in the white community

and thereby elect a negro
president of the United States.

My first
memory of meeting Barry Obama

is that our mutual friend
introduced us.

There were only four Black students

out of 1,600 students in the--
in high school that year.

Barry was a freshman, he had just come
into the high school.

We talked about school,
we talked about girls,

and we talked about whether the
non-Black girls at our school,

which was all the girls
at our school,

would ever date us.

We were used to being in situations

where we were the only
Black person there,

or we were bridging two cultures.

I mean, that was just a part
of how each of us had grown up.

We had a standing meeting
about once a week,

and we called our standing meeting

"ethnic corner," which was
tongue-in-cheek.

We talked about social issues
because that was important to us.

And, so, one of those questions was,

"Will we ever see a Black
president in our lifetime?"

Our consensus was, uh,
there will be a Black president,

but it won't be in our lifetime.

By the time I was an adolescent

and was struggling with issues
of racial identity

and a father not being in the house,

I reacted by engaging
in a lot of, uh, behavior

that's not untypical
of Black males...

uh, across the country.

I played a lot of basketball,

didn't take school that seriously,
got into fights,

drank and consumed substances that
weren't always legal.

And that was also at a time
when Roots

was first appearing on television,

and there were just a lot of icons of
Black identity--

Shaft and Super Fly--

forced me to figure out as I moved
through high school,

what did it mean to be
a Black man in America.

And also embrace my mixed heritage.

We both went to Occidental College
in the fall of 1979 as freshmen,

and we were in the same dormitory.

Barack was always
very self-confident,

he was fun to be around
and easy-going

and a good conversationalist.

It turned out that
I really liked to read,

and I liked to argue politics
with my professors,

and I really, sort of like a sponge,

started soaking up
a lot of, uh, information,

and spent the first two years there

sort of rediscovering
what was important to me...

...and was active in a lot
of campus activism.

Divest! Divest! Divest! Divest!

There were student groups
that were trying to get

the college to divest
from investing in South Africa.

And there was a rally in front of where
the board was meeting,

the trustees, and Barack was
the first speaker at that rally.

All right.

We called this rally today
to bring attention

to Occidental's investments
in South Africa,

and Occidental's lack of investment
in multicultural education.

-There is no...
-Go, Barry!

Barack did a staged thing
where he was carted off,

supposedly by Afrikaners, I guess,

to sort of symbolize what
was going on in South Africa.

It was just one of the many issues,

along with the 1980 election and
bringing back the draft,

that was being discussed on campus.

Are we gonna
take the responsibility to change it?

That was the first time
that I had spent

a lot of time on the mainland
United States.

I became close to a collection of
African American professors

and Latino activists,
and international students,

and it was a terrific period
of growth for me.

But after two years at Occidental,

I decided that I needed a change.

It was a small liberal arts college.

So I transferred to Columbia University
in New York City,

and became very interested in issues of
social change

and politics and public policy
and government,

and started really thinking more
seriously about who I was

and what I wanted to be.

I was doing a masters

in early childhood education
in New York,

and I was living at home
with my parents.

I was invited to a Christmas party,

and I'm not much of a partygoer,
so...

I was about to go home,
when Barack stopped me

and, um, introduced himself to me.

And he must have said something
a little bit compelling,

'cause instead of leaving
as I was ready to do,

we ended up sitting down on a--
on a beanbag by the front door

and talked for a long time.

We both grew up moving around
and in other countries,

and just instantly had a lot
in common.

It was really bizarre
when we both realized

we'd lived in Indonesia
as children at the same time.

It felt extraordinary.

We had very parallel stories,
it seemed.

His mother was an anthropologist
and I was an anthropology major.

There was just this fast
and furious conversation

about who we were
and where we come from,

which, if you grow up moving around
and feeling like an outsider,

is not at all a common experience.

For a lot of children,
when you move around a lot,

you don't feel part of things.

You-- you're sort of outside
looking in.

I think that probably
the greatest effect it had on me

was I think it reinforced
my general belief

that, under the skin,
people were the same

and that whatever circles
I traveled in,

I could find a common spirit
or a common ground.

The week after we met,
we fell into a kind of relationship.

We just shared such
a similar history

and such a similar sensibility
about what we were doing in New York

and how we saw ourselves
as actors in a world

where we cared a lot
about what we were

either choosing to do
or about to choose to do.

We just seemed very much
on the same page

as far as being young
and very idealistic.

For a year, I worked
as a financial journalist

to pay off my student loans
and started looking

for work as a community organizer
or political activist.

And it turned out
that it was actually harder

to find work doing good
than I had expected.

The Indiana-Illinois bi-state region

was the largest producer
of steel in the country,

and, uh, the steel mills
were closing all over the place.

So I began a project
pulling churches together

to see what could be done
for steel workers.

A large part of the area was
the South Side of Chicago,

and there I was, a white organizer

dealing with an
all-African American community.

Community organizing for us
was so new.

There was actually no one
in our community

that we could tap
as a resource for a director.

We needed someone
who looked like us,

thought like us,
and understood our problems.

I put ads in some newspapers.

Barack saw it
in the New York Public Library.

We did a-- a long--
a long phone conversation,

uh, which-- part of which
I was trying to determine

was he Black or not.

He had the skin
to step into that world,

but he didn't have
the cultural background.

That was what concerned him,

is, "How can I walk
into a community,

not only as an outsider,

but also as a person who ought
to have legitimacy

if it's in the Black community?"

But I think he was reluctant to talk

about how that was shaping up
to be the next move,

because it also meant conversations

about breaking up,
which was happening anyway.

There was something about
who we were together

that he really, um,
was plugged into,

very legitimately, but there was
this other part in him which could see

that there was no good end
to this particular love story.

Yeah.

I drove out to Chicago
not knowing a single person.

This was in 1985,
and so I was, uh, 24 years old.

It was really a pivotal time
in his life.

Coming to Chicago for him
was a chance to get rooted

in a way he'd never had before

and to experience
how things get done

in a big city in the United States.

He had never dealt with politics

and the kind of naked power
that's in Chicago.

-You want Harold?
-Yeah!

You got him!

Part of the reason I had been attracted
to Chicago

was reading about Harold Washington

and the inspiration
that African Americans

across the country had taken
from his election

as the first African American
mayor in Chicago.

The election of Harold Washington
signified a sea change, politically,

like nothing we've ever seen
in Chicago.

It finally sent the message
to African Americans

and others who had been left
out of the system

that it was their turn
to have some access

and to have some power
in the community.

Chicago was an
extremely racially divided city.

Go, go, go!

It was a fact of life,
and it was in our face,

and it was always coming up.

He saw a city that was suffering

under deep inequity,
and he wanted to change that.

And he made no apologies for that.

He said, "I'm going to be fair to you.
It doesn't matter if you're white,

it doesn't matter if you're Black,
I'm gonna find you

and I'm gonna be fair to you."

The first few months,

Barack came in,
uh, very serious.

You know, he'd, uh, be reading,

he'd be working
on his notes at night.

He was a bit monkish.

And so I did have a concern
the first few months

that, um, he would burn out.

I was pretty green behind the ears.

Not really knowing
anything about Chicago,

not knowing that much
about the church.

In the Black community,

the church is usually
the base of everything.

That's where people
get their strength.

And so, during this time,

to bring those churches
together, this is power.

We'd use the church
as a base for organizing.

I asked him to go to a different church
every Sunday.

You get to know the church better
if you're there on Sunday.

The pastor appreciates you
being there.

He just asked if he could have
about 15 minutes of my time

to talk about working
in the community,

which was really right up my alley.

But I think, you know,
in his early days,

he had some real difficulties.

And one of the challenges
that Obama had was that,

you know, he-- he did not talk
like the regular guy on the street.

And so, I think
that gave some people

some kind of suspicion, uh,
of him as an outsider.

When I say he did his homework,
he did his homework.

He got to know the people
he was working with.

I came from a community
that was inundated

by waste and pollution,
lack of jobs.

And we needed someone
to encourage us.

To make us want to do the things
that we needed

to improve our community.

We rallied. We did good.

We broke up meetings
behind closed doors.

You're talking
about a sense of power.

You know, and these
are the kind of things

that Barack thought about
and we did.

It was the best education of my life.

It allowed me to not only to learn some
of the skills

of organizing and politics,

but, uh, more importantly,
it gave me a home.

It rooted me in a community
of African Americans

whose values and stories
I soaked up.

Sooner or later,
what happens to you,

if you're working
with a lot of pastors,

they want to know...
"Where do you go to church?

Who's your pastor?"

We talked about the need
for him to be spiritually grounded

if he was going to do this kind
of work, uh, in the church.

Um, and that even if he wasn't,

he needed
to be spiritually grounded,

and he needed to make
that decision, uh, for himself

and by himself.

I have a friend who,
every time you greet him,

every time you ask him,
"How're you doing?"

He answers...

"Just trying to make it, man.

Just trying to make it."

When Barack first came
to see me, he said...

"I want to make
an intelligent choice.

I just don't want to join
because I like the music

or it was a great service."

He wanted to make
an intelligent decision

about his faith.

Reverend Jeremiah Wright
is one of the giants

in the Black prophetic tradition
of the 20th century.

He's deeply influenced by Malcolm X,

in some ways even more
than Martin Luther King, Jr.

Studied at University of Chicago,

so he was both a scholar
as well as a powerful preacher.

How about the fact
that we have pledged

to take what we've got
as Black people

and put it back
into the Black community?

That's what I want to ask.

He was deeply entrenched
in an Afrocentric perspective,

and also a man deeply rooted
in the politics and culture

of African American society,

and brought those to bear
in criticizing racial injustice

and social inequity
in the society around him.

In a conversation with Christ,

what the word says about racism
comes through loud and clear.

Now, Jeremiah Wright has always
been one to engage

in a very, very intense critique
not just of white supremacy,

but of the American empire.

Apartheid is wrong!
Oppression is wrong!

Anybody who feels white skin
is superior to black skin is wrong!

The president of the US,

who doesn't even know
his own Black cabinet members,

is wrong!

As we talked more
about the Black church...

in one of the conversations,

I mentioned that
at the University of Chicago

I had studied under Fazlur Rahman.

He said, "The Muslim?"
I said, "Yeah."

That's when I found out
he had family members

who were Muslim.

And we began talking about
the similarities and differences.

I found him to be
a very intelligent young man

and our conversations increased.

The culture says,
"You are ugly."

The Christ says,
"You are beautiful."

The culture says,
"Your skin is black."

The Christ says,
"And so was mine."

Once he made his decision
to join the church,

you could see a marked difference
in-- in his groundedness.

I think prior to that,
Barack was searching for himself,

both himself in the African American
community,

but also himself
in the faith community.

I-- I think it had real value
and real meaning to him.

I got a letter.
I was in Germany studying.

And the letter,
I looked at the sender,

and it was Barack Obama.

And the thing
that really startled me

when I got the letter
was that he had--

it had the same handwriting
as my father's.

And my father used to write
to me, and...

you know, so I was like,
"What is going on?"

This is like, I don't know,
two years or three years

after my father has died.

So I opened the letter,
kind of feeling really strange,

and it turns out
to be Barack Obama, Jr.

I grew up knowing that I had
a brother in Hawaii

because my father was
very proud of him.

And his mother always sent
Barack's school results,

so we knew about him.

But as a child,
you don't really relate.

We got to meet each other
in Chicago, finally.

We, uh, decided on that,
we needed to get to know each other.

And immediately it was like,

"This is somebody I've known
all my life."

And we didn't stop talking
for about two days.

He asked me so many questions
about family,

about his father--
in particular about his father.

I think it was a big hole in his life.

We don't know the reasons
why his father

couldn't see him more,
be around him more,

but I could at least relay to him that
"Your father loved you very, very much."

He came and visited me in Kenya,

and in that time,
we continued talking.

Although I couldn't fill this hole

that Barack had lived with
all his life,

I could reduce it
because it was filled with family

and stories
that were not just made up.

And I think that was something
that he needed to have,

and it helped in his development

and what he was trying to do
with his life.

We were taking a walk,
and he said,

"I've decided to,
uh, go to law school."

I said, "Okay, um,
that's reasonable. Why?"

You know. And, uh--
uh, he talked about power,

that, uh, he didn't see having the--

getting enough power
to change things

through community organizing.

He wanted to have
some kind of platform

to be able to create greater change.

I was 27 when I got to law school.

It meant that I had gotten
a lot of errant, uh, energy

out of the way.

I knew why I was there
and what I wanted to get out of it.

When I first met him, he seemed...

He was a Black guy from Chicago
with this African-sounding name,

and I had no idea
of his unusual background.

He had a very sort of
wise presence about him.

He always had something that was a
little different to say

that seemed
a bit more well thought out

than the other students.

I had learned, as an organizer,

to be able to articulate a position
and express myself,

and I had great enthusiasm
for the subject matter.

And I think when you're
interested in something,

you end up, uh, doing well.

And I ended up elected as the first

African American president
of the Law Review at Harvard.

It was obvious
from the beginning that

Barack was gonna be
a formidable candidate.

He just impressed
people around him.

But when Barack was elected,

I, frankly, was--
was a bit surprised.

Race was a huge issue
in the Harvard Law Review,

as it was everywhere else
in this society.

And everybody understood
that this was gonna be a huge symbol.

I think it's a good sign.
I think it's a sign of progress.

Although I'm honored
and I think people can, uh,

say that my election symbolizes
some progress,

at least within the small confines
of the legal community,

I think it's real important
to keep the focus

on, uh, the-- the broader world
out there

and see that, uh...
uh , for a lot of kids, uh,

the doors that have been open
to me aren't open to them.

Harvard Law School in the late 1980s,
early 1990s,

was a place where people talked

and argued about racial issues

because it's a reflection
of the larger society,

that's what Americans were doing.

There are 1,600 students
here at Harvard Law School.

Nearly a quarter are people of color
and nearly 40 percent are women,

yet Harvard Law School's
faculty contains

only five tenured women professors

and only three tenured
Black professors.

Professor Derrick Bell was the first
Black granted tenure

at Harvard Law School back in 1969.

Now, he's taking a leave of absence

until the school tenuresits first Black
woman professor.

Bell's protest had its origin in
the faculty diversity movement,

which was a nationwide movement.

And there was a lot of discussion

about whether and to what extent
Barack should be involved.

This was a very controversial thing.

There was the matter of what
are the appropriate things

for the president
of the Harvard Law Review

to speak out on,
and what are-- are not.

I remember that
the Black law students

had organized an orientation
for the first-year students,

and one of the persons who spoke
at that orientation was Professor Bell.

And I remember him sauntering up
to the front,

and not giving us a lecture,
but engaging us in a conversation...

and speaking the truth
that I've carried with me ever since.

Now, how did this one man
do all this?

How has he accomplished all this?

He hasn't done it simply
by his good looks

and easy charm.

Although he has both
in ample measure.

He hasn't done it simply because of
the excellence of his scholarship,

although his scholarship has opened up
new vistas and new horizons,

and changed the standards
of what legal writing is about.

I spent three years
at law school

continuing the same line
of questioning

that I had been engaging in as a
community organizer.

How do we bring about
a more just society.

You know, what are
the institutional arrangements

that would give people, uh,
opportunity.

Every day, on the news,
we hear that we're in a recession.

That violent crime is increasing,
that millions of Americans,

including so many
of our children, are homeless.

And that our education system
must be reformed.

We have assembled a distinguished panel
to explore these problems.

I really would like
for Mr. Obara to--

uh, Obama to respond to this
since he is young and Black.

Whenever we blame society
for everything,

or blame white racism
for everything,

um, then inevitably,
we're giving away our own power

to some extent.

Um, at the same time,

we can't let the federal
government off the hook

or the judiciary system off the hook.
I mean, the fact of the matter is

we can take individual responsibility
but still mobilize as communities

to make the kinds
of structural changes

that are gonna be necessary.

As the first African American president
of the Law Review,

I ended up generating
a lot of publicity.

That put me in a position where,
leaving law school,

I pretty much could write
my own ticket...

and decided not to take
what might have been

the more conventional route clerking on
the Supreme Court

and working in a large law firm.

I read a newspaper article
one day that indicated

that an African American lawyer
was returning to Chicago.

He had been editor in chief
of the Harvard Law Review.

He wanted-- he was interested
in civil rights.

I did nothing but civil rights work.

And, so, I figured what the hell,
I'll call him.

He said,
"You know, every firm is recruiting me."

And he indicated that
he wasn't sure what he wanted to do.

But would I be willing
to have lunch with him,

just-- just to talk.

We probably had three
or four lunches.

And finally after the summer, he said to
me out of the blue,

"Aren't you going to offer me a job?"

I said, well,
"Are you interested?"

And he said,
"Well, I-- I think I am."

But he didn't come back
here because of me.

He-- he came to Chicago
because of Michelle.

He had worked the summers at a law firm
in Chicago,

and she was at one
of those law firms,

and he liked Michelle.

I first met Michelle Robinson
when she was thinking of leaving

her private law firm,
and a good friend of mine,

who was the head of the law
department at the city,

sent her resume down to me.

Across the top was written,
"Outstanding young superstar,

wants to leave the private practice,
interested in government service."

I invited in Michelle
for an interview,

and rather than selling
her resume, as people often do,

she told me her story.

The story of growing up on the South
Side of Chicago.

Being a product of the Chicago
public school system,

going on off to outstanding schools,
Princeton and Harvard.

And I was so blown away by her,
I offered her a job on the spot.

I told him the firm was interested in
hiring him,

and he shared with me that he had--
had this contract to write a book.

And he said to me, um, you know,
"I-- I don't want to start working

while I'm doing this.
I'll-- it'll be a distraction.

I'd rather finish the book,

so that I can really roll up my sleeves
and practice law."

I had graduated
from law school in 1991.

and I had been fortunate enough
to get a contract

to write a series of essays
about civil rights laws

and-- and civil rights policies

and how they've changed
and how they need to move,

uh, as-- as we enter
the, uh, 21st century.

Um, so I was in the middle
of writing this book

when I got a call
from the national organization,

called Project Vote,
and they were very eager to have me

direct their voter registration
effort in Chicago.

I want to continue serving
as your president four more years,

so from this moment--

Well, if the economy is the most
important political issue

in this campaign this year,
and it certainly is,

then it's particularly important
to Blacks

because they are hurting the most.

Black people are further behind now
than we were thirty years ago!

-What's your name?
-Rodney.

For the Democratic candidates,

Black voters, traditionally loyal
Democrats, are important.

But some now worry
the Black community

is being taken for granted.

Despite voter education efforts,
people are still staying away

from the polls this presidential
primary season.

The decline in voting has been
especially dramatic

among Blacks, many of whom
see no one to vote for.

If the elections were to be held
this evening,

I wouldn't vote at all.

It was a critical election.

You also had Carol Moseley Braun on the
ticket as potentially

the first African American
senator from Illinois,

and the only one
in, uh, the senate generally.

Average citizens,
working people, women,

minorities don't have
a voice there right now.

And so, uh, my election
will make a radical difference,

uh, by virtue of-- of
giving voice to those interested

in those concerns.

About two weeks later,
Carol Moseley Braun

won the Democratic
senate nomination,

and at that point, I realized that

this presented an opportunity,
in Illinois, to, uh, enfranchise

and-- and engage a lot
of African American voters

that, uh, previously
had not been involved.

On the line with me
from Chicago is Barack Obama,

State Director
of Illinois Project Vote.

At some point, you'ren gonna have to
have leadership.

Giving people some sense

that the debates
about the issues are real.

That by the time an election
comes about,

people are already plugged in.
They already feel invested.

We have victory in our hands,
we just have to hold on to it.

There was such a tradition
in this country,

particularly with
the Great Migration,

of Black people not getting
involved in electoral politics.

And so, Project Vote said we're gonna
take the message out

to these people in the communities,

and explain to them why not only is it
their right, but their obligation.

There's the old story
that when America is sick,

Black folks have pneumonia.

Since Black folks are suffering even
more than the general population,

what that means is
we're even more cynical

and more skeptical
about the political process.

But citizens can't just remove
themselves from that process.

We've got to get involved
if we're going to make a difference.

The election is five days away,
but business is already brisk

at the Chicago Board of Election
Commissioners office.

A record number of people
have registered to vote

in the Chicago area.

All the programs
that's out right now

saying, "You should vote,"
I've been listening to them,

and now it's time
to take a-- make a stand.

Project Vote had
a lot of grassroots people

active in getting people
signed up to vote,

and they were very successful
doing it.

And I hope that my election opened up
doors for women,

for people of color, for people from
working class backgrounds.

I hope that it cut through some
of these barriers.

Do you have any plans
to run for political office?

You know, uh, not at the moment.

I've only been married a year,

and so I need to spend
a lot of time with my wife.

I've got a real full plate
at the moment.

I teach a course at the
University of Chicago,

in civil rights law.

You know, I'm working
in my law practice.

We do a lot of employment
discrimination cases,

voting rights cases.

That keeps me pretty busy.

If you end up being fortunate enough
to have the opportunity to serve, uh,

it's because you've got a track
record of service in the community.

Uh, and I think, uh, right now,
I'm still building up that track record.

Tell me about the
book that you are working on

about race relations.

Well, you know, it's, uh,
it's actually changed quite a bit.

As I wrote it, it ended up becoming
much more of a personal reflection

on what it means for me to be
an African American.

And a reflection on my father,
in particular,

who passed away quite a while ago.

My guest today
is truly the epitome of that word

"African American."

He has written
a wonderful autobiography,

as well as a look at America
called Dreams From My Father.

My guest is Barack Obama.

I did say African American,
and the fact that your father,

who also was Barack Obama,
uh, was from Kenya.

That's right.
My father returned to Kenya,

and essentially became sort
of a mythic figure to me.

-The icon. Yeah.
-An icon.

Your father comes back once
when you're ten.

And it isn't till years later
that you learn the real story

of what happened to him back
in Kenya.

And then because
he starts to speak up

and because of the changing
political scheme.

You know, the, uh-- uh-- he ends up

being blacklisted
from the government,

uh, and, uh, in fact dies
a very bitter and lonely man.

Uh, and, uh--
There is a tragic element to that

and-- and part of what
I had to come to terms with

in writing the book,

and in discovering
that entire side of my life

and my family, was to--
was to really recognize

that, uh, he had been shaped
by many of the forces

that I had-- was struggling
with as a youth.

Uh, that he, uh, as an African,

uh, although was not
genetically mixed...

-Mm-hmm.
-...uh, so to speak,

culturally was caught
in this cross-pollinization,

this hybridization, this movement
from traditional African society

into suddenly being catapulted
into the modern age.

And-- and, uh, I think in the end,

he was not ever quite able
to completely bridge

that-- that schism between
modern life and traditional life

that probably, uh, is a schism that,

for him, at least,
was just as powerful

as any schism
between Black and White.

-Good evening.
-Good evening.

Thank you very much.
I, uh...

The section that I'm going to
read for you right now,

uh, takes place
during my adolescence,

and I'm a very angry man,
uh, young man,

partly because my father is absent,
partly because I'm trying to struggle--

What does it mean exactly
to be a Black man in America?

"The only thing you could choose
as your own

was withdrawal into a smaller
and smaller coil of rage,

until being Black meant
only the knowledge

of your own powerlessness
and your own defeat.

And the final irony,
should you refuse this defeat

and lash out at your captors,
they would have a name for that too.

A name that could
cage you just as good.

Like paranoid. Or militant.

Or violent. Or nigger."

What I discovered and I tried
to write about this in the book--

is that, I guess,
that the solution for me

to that sense of isolation

was to throw myself
into a community.

Uh, to basically, uh, decide--

And I-- it wasn't articulated
in my mind at the time,

but in retrospect,
I can see what I was doing.

I ended up, um...

deciding that my individual fate

had to be tied
to something larger than myself.

Okay, thank you very much!

Hyde Park, Chicago, is a place

where you find your people
pretty quickly.

In those years
it was all about dinner,

and dinner at other people's houses,

and dinner with a lot of people
around the table.

And I think that all of us
were trying to figure out,

uh, what we wanted to do
with the opportunities

that we had, um,
to be useful people.

When I met him,
I honestly thought

he was the smartest person
I had ever met.

To all of my other brilliant
friends, I am sorry.

There was just a way
that his mind took things

and processed them.

That his curiosity was probing
and deep and relentless.

So, I knew that whatever
he wanted to do,

um, that he could do.

I was out in the front yard
raking leaves,

and he drove by, he stopped,
and he said, "Oh, you know what?

You don't have my book,
you ought to read my book."

He didn't say-- He didn't give me
any context around it or anything.

I didn't know anything about him

other than that
we would play ball together

and he was married to Michelle.
And I started to read it,

and I opened the door
and I called my wife

and I said, "Anita...

Barack is an incredible writer.
And he's really smart."

I met Barack Obama
as a favor to a friend.

She said, "I know this sounds crazy,

but I think
he could be the first, uh,

first Black president
of the United States."

And I thought, "Well,
that was pretty grandiose."

I sat down with him, and while
I didn't necessarily walk away

humming hail to the chief,
it was an interesting conversation.

I didn't know exactly
what his plans were,

but I knew that he was learning
the system.

Because we weren't actually
sitting at that table

where the power was,
I think at some point,

he realized that he needed
to be at the table.

Chicago was a hotbed
of political progressive politics.

And I think he was inspired by that.

We lived in the same area
of Chicago,

and I would see him a lot.

I thought he was a nice-looking
young man, pleasant.

Then all of a sudden,
I heard that he was running

for the state senate spot.

You know, I--
I wasn't really focused

on running for office, per se.

I think, I've been
continually experimenting

with ways to bring about change.

I tried community organizing,
I've worked as a civil rights attorney.

And the idea of participating in the
legislative process

became more interesting
the more I saw the limits

of social change through the courts.

And then what happened
was a vacancy came up

in the state senate seat
in the district where I live.

Alice Palmer, a long-time revered
South Side state senator,

had decided that she wanted
to run for higher office

for a congressional seat.

-I'm Alice Palmer, how are you?
-How are you?

She had promised him
that she would support him.

Well, she lost the primary,
so she wanted her seat back.

She wanted Obama to step back,

and he was not going to step back.
They'd made a deal.

There was a lot of anger and tension

and division in the community
about that,

because in the African American
community,

politicians believe that you should
always wait your turn...

and many voters feel that way too.

I think Obama came to Chicago

with the thought and ambition
of getting into politics.

He was extremely ambitious.

Nobody writes a book
about their life

when they're 30 years old.
Unless he's got a plan.

It was when I started doing Project Vote
in 1992

that I came to appreciate the need

for a more effective
political movement

within the African American community.

I represent the children
of the civil rights movement

who've had opportunities to study
and advance as a consequence

of the sacrifices
that our parents made.

And that provides this generation
with special advantages...

but also special burdens
or responsibilities that, maybe,

we haven't fulfilled yet.

Barack Obama's mother's death
came quite suddenly.

Her cancer was quite aggressive,

and she wasn't expected to die
as quickly as she did.

The compounding tragedy

was that he didn't make it
in time to say goodbye.

He was involved with politics
in such a way

that he felt he couldn't quite
strip himself away

and he got there, you know,
Hawaii's far, far away,

and he just got there--
got there late.

And then he spread her ashes
in the Pacific Ocean

and that was that.

He was shocked by it.
Devastated.

They were very close,
and I think he felt that his search

for his father perhaps overlooked

just how fundamentally important
his mother had been to his shaping.

She was, uh,
just a wonderfully sweet spirit,

and, uh, somebody who was,
at her core, generous and thoughtful,

and somebody who, uh, rooted
for the underdog, I think.

She ended up working as a, uh,
development officer

for international aid organizations.

She had a terrific sense of empathy,

an ability to step
in somebody else's shoes

and imagine how they might
be feeling.

And I think that aspect of her
is probably the thing

that was her greatest gift to me.

I think that my interest
in public service

in part, you know, grew out of those
early lessons that she taught me.

And, uh, ultimately, I was
elected as the state senator

for the 13th legislative district.

We have Senate Bill 1645.

Madam Secretary,
please read the bill.

I move to concur
with the House in the adoption

of their amendment number one
to Senate Bill 1645.

Motion filed by Senator Obama.

The basic intent of this bill
is to maintain the status quo

with respect to who qualifies

for time and a half overtime pay
and who does not.

It is true and this was
discussed in committee...

Barack's experience
as a state senator

is underappreciated
in terms of his evolution.

Most ambitious politicians
in Chicago

would take the route of going
to the city council

and trying to become mayor
and going through city politics.

But that's a hornet's nest.

He was able to sort of learn his way

through all of the dynamics of politics
in Springfield.

By the time I arrived,
you had a divided legislature,

and-- and discovered
that most of my bills

were going to get killed before
they had even been debated.

In fact, I remember the first time
I spoke on the floor of the senate.

One of my Republican colleagues
came up to me

and said, "You know, Barack,
that was a wonderful speech.

I think you changed a lot of minds,
but you changed no votes."

He came to talk to me
about running for Congress.

He was in the state senate,
he was restless, uh,

wanted to go to Washington.

And he thought that he could challenge
Bobby Rush,

who was the sitting congressman
of the district.

Bobby in '99 had run
for mayor of Chicago.

And got badly beaten.

And Obama sensed an opportunity,

felt he could contribute more.

State Senator Barack Obama
says the biggest issue

in the first district race
is leadership.

This was Harold Washington's seat.

And, unfortunately, we have an
incumbent who has not lived up

to that standard of leadership.

I mean, I'm thinking that Obama
and I are buddies.

You know, we know each other.
We, uh, walked down the same walk.

We bopped to the same tune, all right?

And then all of a sudden,
the guy challenges me,

you know, out of the blue!

His biggest challenge is getting
his name recognition up.

I maintain that I got
great name recognition

because I'm an activist. I'm here.

Here's a man that represents the people.

Bad motherfucker. Bobby Rush.

Bobby Rush is a beloved man,
was then, is still now.

A Black Panther.

A man who is closely connected
to Fred Hampton,

a young revolutionary who lost
his life in Chicago,

essentially set up
and murdered by the FBI

and the local police.

They murdered Fred Hampton.
Uh, they're out to murder me.

They-- It's like they'll murder anybody
that's Black in this country.

Bobby, what's the next move
for you personally?

I haven't-- My-- I'm--
There's no "personally" anymore.

I'm a people's man, so I do
whatever the people decide.

There's nothing personal
about it whatsoever.

Okay. Thank you very much.

I represented street people,
common people, poor people...

the hungry, the outcasts.
I know who I am.

I know where I-- I standat with my
community. All right?

They don't always say it right.
Sometimes they call me Alabama.

They call me Yo Mama...

...but it's Obama.

I was probably one of two
Baptist pastors to endorse him

when he ran against Bobby Rush.

And, um, you know,
the big thing with that was

that he wasn't Black enough.

Who are you?

You know, a lot of Black people,
"This Ivy League person.

Who's your mama? Who's your daddy?
What's your background?

Uh, what's your weird way
of talking?

What is that weird name you've got?

You're going to come in and challenge
our beloved Bobby Rush?"

This is viewed as a key
leadership post

for the African American community.

And I think that
what's more important

for the constituents of this district

is somebody who's accessible,
somebody who's energetic,

and somebody who's got a vision
for the future.

Look, man, I fed hungry children.

I put myself in the crosshairs
of the police department

for my community.

I was on the right side of history.

So, when did that become old news,
and to who is it old news?

Hi, how are you? I'm running for
Congress. First Congressional District.

It might not be relevant to you,

but it's certainly relevant
to those people

who you're asking
to vote against me.

Barack Obama, running for
First Congressional District.

A still-hopeful Barack Obama

worked the room tonight
greeting constituents

with hugs and handshakes.

What's going on, man?
How you doing? Thanks for coming.

There is a-- a political structure

around any incumbent congressman,
uh, that is formidable.

I heard somebody
was giving you a hard time.

Touted as a rising political star,

if he were to win
this congressional race,

he'd be a spokesperson
for African Americans

both locally and nationally.

Some say he appeals to a broader range
of people,

and that works well in Congress.

Well, we've done a wonderful job
in terms of putting, uh,

a message about
a new politics out here.

We're very proud of that.

And we think that we really have
something to build on for the future...

How are you? Good to see you.

Well, he had credentials.
Very impressive credentials.

But he didn't have
community credibility.

He was a nice fellow
and he is a very impressive individual.

And, um, I-- I-- But I won.

People say the one political misstep

he made was running
against Bobby Rush.

There was a whole question of,

he-- he couldn't really relate
to the Black community.

-He wasn't Black enough.
-Mm-hmm.

Did that raise any
of these old struggles

that he'd had even as a teenager
as to who he was?

No, I mean-- Right. He--
He grew out of that.

And when you grow up
and you become an adult,

you realize that you are who you are

and people have to connect
with that or not.

And when people bring that issue up,

my-- my sense is it's more
their issue than it is his.

I've grown up in this community.
I'm as Black as it gets.

I was born on the South Side,

I come from an, obviously, Black family,
we weren't rich, you know.

I'd put my Blackness up
against anybody's Blackness

in this state, okay?
And Barack is a Black man.

And he's done more in terms of meeting
his commitments

and sticking his neck out
for this community

than many people who criticize him.

And I can say that
because I'm Black.

My view has always been,
Barack is who he is.

People need to see that,
and if they want him,

they should vote for him.
If they don't, we move on.

I still have a certain level
of cynicism about politics,

but I believe in him.

He's done an outstanding job
as a state senator.

He has lived out his values
in that way,

and I'm proud of what he's done.

In the summer of 2002,
I got a call from State Senator Obama,

who told me that he wanted to run
for the United States Senate,

and it-- it was sort of
an existential moment for him,

uh, because he had lost the race
to Bobby Rush by some 30 points,

he was broke,

uh, and though he was
widely admired,

he also was thought to be
damaged political goods.

He said, "I told Michelle I've got one
race left in me.

If it doesn't work out, I'll go out and
make a living,

but I think I want to take
a shot at this Senate seat."

He came to talk to me
about running.

He was having qualms. Why?

'Cause he might lose?
No, because he might win.

And if he won, that would give him
even less time with Sasha and Malia.

One of his biggest joys in life
was putting them to bed at night.

They want a daddy,
not a public figure.

I don't get any more joy than I do

when I'm playing with them
or just watching them.

You know, they're, uh,
they're better than a movie.

We want a man like Barack Obama
to be in office.

Uh, someone who's prepared,
who's worked in the community,

who has integrity,
who's doing it for the right reason.

MICHELLE I always say
I take off my wife hat

and put on my citizen hat,
and say, "Well, if I weren't his wife,

would I want him to run?"

And the answer is absolutely yes.

Let me turn to Laura Washington.

Let's play a little hardball,
and you ask the first question.

Well, I'm wondering how he's
gonna edge out Carol Moseley Braun.

How are you gonna
convince her not to run,

and if she does run,
how are you going to win

with two African Americans
splitting a-- a good part

of both of your bases?

Well, there is no denying

that, uh, ethnicity plays a role
in Democratic Party politics.

You know,
I think that's inescapable. Uh, I--

I don't think too much about
the other candidate's potential,

uh, in the race.
My job is to think about

how do I put together a team
and a message

that effectively projects, uh,

why I think
I'd make a good US senator.

I worked very hard in the Senate
to produce for my entire state.

I thought I tried to do
a good job...

but I didn't win re-election.

There were people
that wanted Carol Moseley Braun

to run for Senate again.
There were women in particular

who still wanted to see her
back in office

and felt it was still her turn.

And Obama
was not Carol Moseley Braun.

The latest on what's turning
into a very crowded race for the Senate.

And this would have represented
going back.

A few days ago, former
US senator Carol Moseley Braun

said she would not try
to get her old job back.

And that decision meant another
Democrat was in the race instead.

State Senator Barack Obama
is the second to make it official.

...that I will be a candidate
for the United States Senate in 2004.

The probable candidate to reckon with
at this point

is investment banker Blair Hull,
who is reportedly willing to spend

up to 40 million dollars
of his own fortune

to finance his Senate bid.

Do the other hopefuls
have the resources

to bankroll their own races?

I certainly don't.
Thank you all!

In any case, it is a season of
proclaiming,

even though the primary
is more than 13 months down the pipe.

- We cool?
-Mm-hmm.

Barack, let's start
with the question

that you always say
you get first, which is...

-Of course.
-What's with the name?

What's the deal with that name?

Uh... Let's start over.

This was the year
after Osama bin Laden

took out the World Trade Center.

And there was this thought in the
political community

that the name Barack Obama
would not be sailable.

In fact, there was someone
who suggested to him

that he run as Barry Obama,

which was his nickname
when he was a kid.

He just laughed that off,
and said, "Yeah, that's fine.

I know it probably tests better
but my name's Barack.

That's how we're going to run."

When I was young, you know,
there weren't that

many people with, uh, African names.

So, these days, you know,
there are Shaquilles and Maliks,

but, uh, there were only Toms
and Joes, uh, when I was growing up.

So, uh, my family
actually called me "Barry"

up until my father passed away,
uh, when I was, uh, 20.

And, uh, at that point, I--
I decided that I should use the name

that I was born with,
and have used it ever since.

- Out of respect?
-Out of respect for my father, yeah.

Now, much-- much to the regret
of political consultants.

- Exactly.
- Yeah.

Senator Barack Obama.
Thank you very much, I appreciate it.

Sorry to interrupt your meal.

When, in his book, Barack Obama says,
"You can't call me--

Don't call me Barry anymore."
That's familiar.

That's familiar. I mean,
a decision to say,

"I am Barack," you know what I mean?

You think about, like, Frederick
Douglas, you know,

born Frederick Bailey,
recreating himself.

Malcolm Little, you know,
becoming Malcolm X.

You know, myself, you know,
my own name...

...you know, is this attempt
for Black folks

to, you know, sort of reclaim,

you know, some--
some sort of identity.

One of the interesting things

that I heard a lot
about was, is he really Black?

And this was different from
the "He's not Black enough."

I was hearing this from whites.

What makes him Black?
His mother was white.

How does he get to be a Black guy, and
how does he get to be a Black senator

when he doesn't even really have an
African American background?

I think it-- it said a lot
about race in this country,

and the fact that,
particularly whites,

didn't really understand
our racial heritage.

Senator Obama,
how does being biracial

influence the kinds of issues
that matter to you?

Well, it-- You know, I--

One of the things I think
that I've always felt

is that, uh, I--
I'm hopeful about America,

and although race I think
is at the center

of the American dilemma,
and it always has been,

I think that it's also
our opportunity,

because I think America is--
is, by nature, a hybrid culture.

Everybody comes here.
We all merge together.

We-- we fight, we struggle,
we battle, but, ultimately,

there's some common good
that binds us together.

And I think that I'm always
very sensitive,

in the kinds of issues I work on,
to focus on, uh, those issues

that we all hold in common,
issues of fairness, justice, uh,

the ability to-- to provide a
better opportunity for our kids.

That's the kind of message,
hopefully, that comes across

during my campaign.

The Illinois primary is less than two
weeks away,

and campaigning is peaking.

Just how has a guy,
who two months ago

garnered only 14 percent of the
vote in the Democratic polls,

become a double-digit frontrunner?

Yeah. You're gonna win!
We've gotta vote for you!

I know that my voters
know my track record

and-- and my plans for Washington

because, uh, when your name
is Barack Obama,

you don't get any free votes.

If Bush gets re-elected,
even if we've got a Democratic Senate,

then all we're gonna be able
to do is play defense.

It's gonna be hard to play offense.

He had a young man
who traveled with him

who called me from the road.

He was down
in deep Southern Illinois,

closer to, uh, Little Rock
than Chicago

in a small town in a VFW hall,

and the kid said,
"Boy, it went over great."

Obama called me that night
and I said,

"Gee, I--
I heard it went great."

I really appreciate it, thank you for
taking the time. It's very kind of you.

And he said,
"Why do you sound so surprised?"

And I said, "I don't know,
a Black guy named Barack Obama

from the South Side of Chicago.

I thought it might be
a little challenging."

And he said, "No, no.
You don't get it.

We'd talk about my grandfather
who marched in Patton's army,

and my grandmother who was
a Rosie the Riveter,

and we get along great."

Mr. Obama,
one of your supporters

has raised the concern that perhaps

you're not connecting
with African American voters

as much as you should.

Well, look, the African American
community isn't monolithic

any more than the white community

or Latino community
or the Asian community is--

is monolithic, and I think
that's a healthy thing.

That's a part of our democracy. I
certainly don't think that I would want

to restrict my support
to African Americans

any more than Dan
would want to restrict, uh,

hi-- his support to whites.

Part of what I think makes
the Democratic Party rich

is the fact that we have
to build coalitions.

Mr. Hull, you moved to
Chicago in 1980, is that right?

I was doing
a story about Chicago

and the Democratic Party's
ability to reach voters

through its messaging.

And I was calling around and
I was saying, "Who should I talk to?"

Several people said,
"You need to talk to

this guy named Barack Obama."

And it was really interesting,

he was saying things
that were in some ways

in line with the Democratic Party,

but he had a different way
of thinking,

and he had a very expansive
way of thinking.

And he was thinking
that they needed--

they, the Democrats, um,
and he, as a politician,

needed to try to message in a way
that reached all voters.

Today's newspaper right here.
Obama wins the primary.

It is history today, right here,
in today's newspaper.

-Read all about it!
-Thank you, I appreciate it.

-Fantastic, brother, Keep going.
-Thank you, thank you, thank you.

-Congratulations, Trinitarian!
-Thank you. Hey, fellow Trinitarian.

Thank you very much.

There are many reasons why this election
is important,

and unfortunately,
one of them is that

there are no, uh, people of color

in the highest governing body
in the land, and it's 2004.

And I don't think
that anyone would think

that we would still be saying that
in this day and age.

He's gotten attention

because after winning
the primary so soundly,

he could potentially be, you know,
the only African American candidate

in the United States Senate,
and that's news. That's huge!

I think the people of Illinois
will make it happen.

- Good morning. How are you?
- Wait!

This is a TV moment.
What do you think?

Watch yourself. Watch yourself.

He's focused on the issues

and he has been driven
by a positive message of hope,

and the notion that people--

We are all connected in some way,

and I think that people
want to hear that now.

Some of you may know
that my first job

out of law school was directing
a project called Project Vote.

You know, my first love
is getting people

to participate
in the political process

because all the other stuff
we do is dependent on folks

being engaged and feeling a part,

and feeling that their participation
is actually going to make a difference.

If all of us keep our eye
on the ball,

if all of us work hard
between now and November 2nd,

I have no doubt John Kerry
is gonna be the president,

John Edwards is gonna be
the vice president,

and Barack Obama's gonna be
the next US senator.

So, thank you so much, guys.

I appreciate it. Thank you.
I appreciate it.

After he won the primary,
there was a fundraiser.

And John Kerry,
who was poised to become

the Democratic nominee
for President, came in to speak.

There were only two other speakers.

One was Rich Daley,
the mayor of Chicago.

The other was Barack Obama.

And Obama gave a rousing speech.

In late June, we got a call

from the manager
of the Kerry campaign...

and she said, "We'd like you to be the
keynote speaker

at the Democratic Convention."

He said, "I'd be honored."

And as soon as he hung up, he said,
"I know what I want to say."

It's good to see you.
How are you?

And, for the next few weeks
as he drove around campaigning

or was at the state senate
in between votes,

he'd be scribbling notes down.

One day this fax came,
and it was the draft.

And, I read the first page,
and handed it to my wife.

I read the second page
and handed it to my--

By the third page,
I-- I just turned to her.

I said, "This is going to be one of the
great convention speeches of all time."

The Democratic Party today

made it clear they think
they have discovered

the biggest potential political star
of either party

to come out of Illinois
since Abe Lincoln.

His name is Barack Obama, and he's
running for US Senate.

The party announced today

he'll be the keynote speaker
at their Boston convention.

Democrats could have picked
someone more famous,

but the pros saw something special
in Barack Obama.

Barack's candidacy
isn't just energizing

the Democratic Party,
but it's energizing people

and giving them a renewed hope
for politics, period.

How are you?
Nice to meet you.

You know, they're tired
of a politics of division,

so it's very uplifting to see
this wonderful young man

who reminds so many people
of their own sons and grandsons

regardless of race.

Do you think
the Democratic Party

selected you in part
because they wanted to present

an African American,
young, rising politician?

Well, I think that John Kerry cares
a lot about diversity in the party.

And I think that certainly
made a difference.

I also think that the manner
in which we won

our primary in Illinois
was a hopeful sign,

because the conventional wisdom
was that, uh, I would get the Black vote

and then a sliver of,
uh, a white vote,

and instead we won in places
people didn't expect us to win,

in-- in suburban areas,
in rural areas.

And it indicates that people are really
ready for a message for change.

What they want is somebody
who has a positive message,

who has a tone in their politics
that says,

"We can disagree with the other side
without being disagreeable."

And I think that's the kind
of message

that John Kerry
is going to be projecting

at the convention during this week.

The, uh, Black caucus of delegates

to the 2004 Democratic Convention

had their sessions,
and they invited me to speak

'cause I was one of the candidates
for president that year.

And they invited Mr. Obama.

And he says, "I just want
to explain to you, Reverend,

that, uh, you know, I'm doing
the keynote tomorrow night,

and I'm probably
gonna be more expansive

and unifying, uh,
than, uh, a lot of people

are-- are used to."

And I stopped him then and said,
"Don't worry, Senator,

you do what you have to do
tomorrow night

'cause you have to win
for the US Senate.

I'm gonna take care of the
brothers and sisters tonight."

And he kind of looked at me

the way he kind of looks
his head and he laughed.

And I think that began
a relationship

where he and I understood, uh,
that we play different roles.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

Thank you.

Let me express my deepest gratitude

for the privilege of addressing
this convention.

Tonight is a particular honor for me

because, let's face it,
my presence on this stage

is pretty unlikely.

When I first saw Barack Obama,
I was skeptical.

And my introduction to him was like
very many people's introduction,

the 2004 Democratic
National Convention

where he gave the keynote speech.

But I was intrigued,
even as I was skeptical.

I stand here knowing that my story
is part of the larger American story,

that I owe a debt to all
of those who came before me,

and that, in no other country
on Earth,

is my story even possible.

We wanted to createa movement that
inspired people

to believe that we could overcome

some of these really, uh,
great barriers in our politics.

That we could overcome the cynicism.

You know, I thought that this speech

was going to have
a galvanic effect for Obama.

Didn't realize how much until
I was in the room in Boston.

This year, in this election,

we are called to reaffirm
our values and our commitments,

to hold them against a hard reality

and see how we are measuring up,
to the legacy of our forbearers,

and the promise
of future generations.

And fellow Americans, Democrats,
Republicans, Independents,

I say to you tonight,
we have more work to do.

I was sitting up
in one of the box seats,

and I had some activists with me.

And they were like, "Well, why
isn't he talking about voting rights,

and why isn't he talking
about some of our issues?"

John Kerry believes in America.

And he knows that it's not enough
for just some of us to prosper.

I understood that he had to deal

with a broad range of issues,

and that he was running
for the US Senate

to represent everybody in Illinois.

If there is a child
on the South Side of Chicago

who can't read, that matters to me,
even if it's not my child.

And I actually got into arguments
defending him.

I would say, "Wait a minute.
We-- we cannot fight

to get our best to the mainstream,

and then tell them,
'Don't talk to the mainstream

about mainstream issues.'"

It is that fundamental belief,

I am my brother's keeper,
I am my sister's keeper,

that makes this country work.

It's what allows us to pursue
our individual dreams,

and yet still come together
as one American family.

E pluribus unum.
Out of many, one.

It's his position.
As an American politician,

his goal is to represent
the best interest

of the entire nation
from a particular position

and standpoint as a Black man,
but broadening out,

not only what that Blackness
might mean,

but how it might also encompass
and include all of America.

Now, even as we speak,

there are those
who are preparing to divide us.

The spin masters,
the negative ad peddlers,

who embrace the politics
of anything goes.

Well, I say to them tonight,

there is not a liberal America
and a conservative America,

there is
the United States of America.

There is not a Black America
and a white America

and Latino America
and Asian America,

there's the United States
of America.

The pundits,
the pundits like to slice...

You know, he made that statement,

"There's not a Black America
or a white America,

there's the United States
of America."

Now, that's not true.

There's totally a Black America
and a white America.

And there's a Latino America,
a gay America, a poor America,

uh, there's a America that is
disproportionately incarcerated,

there are all of those things.

We are one people,
all of us pledging allegiance

to the stars and stripes,

all of us defending
the United States of America.

But you also had to understand
that he was speaking aspirationally...

that people wanted to belong
to a country

in which those were not permanent
and impermeable distinctions.

In the end, that's what
this election is about.

Do we participate in a politics
of cynicism,

or do we participate
in a politics of hope?

Hope!

I don't think Obama had any illusion

that everybody had transcended race

and had transcended
historical animosities and all the rest,

and everybody was
in full embrace of great unity.

It was a new kind
of American optimism.

Voiced by somebody who embodied
this melding of identity.

It's the hope of slaves sitting
around a fire

singing freedom songs,

the hope of immigrants
setting out for distant shores,

the hope of a young naval lieutenant
bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta,

the hope of a millworker's son
who dares to defy the odds,

the hope of a skinny kid
with a funny name

who believes that America
has a place for him too.

I was there at the convention,

and it was riveting, electrifying.

It was comparable to King standing

at the summit of expectation
in 1963,

where he identifies a golden thread

of the American dream
and weaves it into a tapestry

of American democratic possibility.

Hope.

Hope in the face of difficulty.
Hope in the face of uncertainty.

The audacity of hope.

In the end, that is God's
greatest gift to us.

The bedrock of this nation.

Now, I'm not saying
that the 2004 speech

measured up to
the "I Have a Dream" speech

in terms of rhetorical eloquence,
though it was eloquent.

Thank you very much, everybody.
God bless you. Thank you.

But it did have
an electrifying effect

in that same way.

That was a tremendous coming out
party for Barack Obama.

Thank you.

Barack Obama.

Well, this is why you go into this
business, to watch a speech like that.

He's the only speaker

who's come to this convention
without any expectation

because people didn't know him, and boy,
they know him now.

This is a guy
who transcends labels,

um, clichés, racial,
ideological, cultural.

He mixed it all up,
he reinvented it,

he gave us a whole new vision
of the United States.

-Yeah.
-This guy's going places.

Six hundred...
and fifty-six days ago...

I announced in a room
a little smaller than this--

All right, it was a lot smaller.

That I was announcing
for the United States Senate.

And at the time,
as many of you know...

people were respectful,
but nevertheless skeptical.

They felt that in a nation
as divided as ours,

there was no possibility
that someone who looked like me

could ever aspire
to the United States Senate.

They felt that in a fearful nation,

someone named "Barack Obama"
could never hope to win an election.

And yet, here we stand
because we had a different concept,

a different notion
of the American people.

And for those skeptics,

I say to them,
look at this crowd tonight.

Look at this election today.

And I have three words for them!

-What are those words?
-Yes we can!

Thank you, Illinois, I love you!
Thank you!

Hey, guys!

Good morning, everyone,
and I thank you for joining us today

as we stand here in the midst,
once again,

of a very historic election.

I'm extremely excited to welcome
Senator-elect Barack Obama

to the Congressional Black Caucus.

Only the third African American
since Reconstruction

to be elected
to the United States Senate.

This is such
a historic race. Any pressure?

Well, you know, I don't feel pressure
in the sense that,

uh, most of the
issues that I'm concerned about

are issues that the African American
community is concerned about.

But when it comes to
speaking out on issues

that are of particular importance
to the African American community,

I don't think
that's a conflict with my role

as a, uh, effective legislator
for the people of Illinois.

The expectations
are so high for you.

How do you possibly meet
those expectations?

Well, I don't think that anybody
expects me, realistically,

to single-handedly
transform politics in America,

certainly not before I'm sworn in.

...that you will bear true
faith and allegiance to the same...

I think it's important
as we head into a new session

to confront problems...

to not pass them
on to future congresses

or a future president.

And so, I want to confront problems,
and I will.

I'll call upon Congress
to take on... big issues.

And I look forward to working with
members of both parties to do just that.

Am I making a right or a left here?

For the first year
of his Senate tenure,

we really tried to be very low key
for two reasons.

We didn't want to signal
to the people of Illinois

that somehow
Obama was using Illinois

as a stepping-stone
to something else.

And-- and that wasn't his intent.

We also didn't want to aggravate
his colleagues

who were naturally resentful
of all the attention.

He could've done
a Sunday show every week.

And then in late 2005,
Katrina happened.

In August 2005,
the Gulf is underwater.

New Orleans is underwater.

And it is very evident that not only

are the preparations
for this abysmal,

but the racial disparity in the way
people were treated

and cared for was appalling.

And the indifference from Washington

and other levels of government
was appalling.

They told us, "Go to the Superdome.

If you want to be rescued,
go to the Superdome."

All of a sudden, now they're
telling us, "Go to the bridge."

We all have very few resources.
What are we supposed to do?

When asked if race played a role
in his response,

the president had a stern answer.

My attitude is this,
the storm didn't discriminate

and neither
will the recovery effort.

President George Bush
said that the storm

was indifferent to race.

But people who could afford
to live higher

and better were not as vulnerable

to those who were more
in the storm's path.

So, where you lived
in the storm's path

was determined by pre-existing
economic condition.

What do you do when you see
the richest nation in the world

and there are hundreds and hundreds

of dead Black people
floating in the streets?

And the government,
alternately, saying

that it's powerless
to intervene in any way

that would save
these people's lives.

This was a visual reminder
of the disposability

of Black people's lives
in the United States.

Especially poor people.

The important thing for us now
is to recognize that

we have situations in America

in which race continues
to play a part,

that class continues to play a part,

and when disaster strikes,
it tears the curtain away

from the festering problems
that we have beneath them.

And Black and White, all of us
should be concerned.

For, I think, a lot
of African Americans,

Hurricane Katrina was like 9/11

in terms of shaking the foundations
of their relationship to this country.

I think that was probably central

to the narrative
that wound up ultimately

giving Barack Obama an opportunity

to run for president
of the United States.

Hi, how are you?
Good to see you.

-How've you been? Happy new year to you.
-Hi. Happy New Year.

Throughout 2006, the drumbeat
was building for him

to become a candidate for president.

We postponed a trip to Africa

because he was trying
to keep a lower profile.

Finally, in the summer of 2006,
he went.

I'm on the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee

and so I wanted to make sure
that I was getting information

that would help me do
my job better as a US senator.

-We're really grateful.
-Yeah, thank you.

-Nice to see you.
-Best of luck to you guys.

-Thank you very much.
-Good. Good.

I think I can be helpful
in putting a different face

on US foreign policy
and the US government.

My wife and I are going
to get tested for HIV/AIDS.

So I just want everybody to remember
that if a US senator can get tested,

then everybody
in this crowd can get tested.

And everybody in this city
can get tested

because you need
to know your status.

I have stopped expecting things
in my life

as the wife of Senator Barack Obama
because everything is a surprise.

See you, guys.

But it was completely overwhelming
to see hundreds and hundreds

and thousands and thousands
of people

just lining the streets
cheering this man, my husband.

It's sort of like, "Do you--
you know him?"

His coming here is a message,
not only to us, it's an inspiration,

but to the entire world.

Who's the artist?
Who made it?

-Who made it?
- This guy?

-Hey! This is a beautiful gift.
-Thank you.

Thank you so much.
This is beautiful! Yeah!

Except I think he's-- he looks
better-looking than I am.

Come here!
Come, come, come, come.

My sense is that,
as I talk to individual Africans,

their appreciation of someone
with my background

being able to rise up
and have some influence

over the course of events
in the United States

was impressive for them.

Once we got to my father's compound,

there wasn't much room
for family visitation...

and I think it was a little
overwhelming for my grandmother.

Auma, just-- just, uh,
come and translate for Granny.

How does she feel...

to have the man she raised's son
here again?

She said she feels very, very good.

That's it.
That's a soundbite right there.

We're not wasting any time.

He's not all ours.

The last time he was here,
you know, it was all about family,

it was all about visiting us.

Senator,
coming back 14 years later...

And now, we have quite limited time
with him.

This time around, we really are just
there to support him.

The first time I came here...

He's-- he's on official business
and it's very, very obvious.

I didn't expect the attention to be that
great, nationally.

Because, I mean,
he's on the national news

more than the president is
at the moment.

He's very big,
and I didn't realize that.

I didn't realize how--
how important he's become.

I'm having a wonderful time in Kenya.

All of you are my brothers,
all of you are my sisters.

I want to thank everybody here!

And as his sister, to be honest,
it's very worrying

because I think
at the end of the day,

it's a lot to put
on the shoulders of one person.

And he's really quite
a young politician.

Hopefully, what is taken away

by, uh, Africans who met me
is that...

...an effective country
is not going to be based on tribe,

it's not going to be based
on an ethnic majority imposing its will.

But it's going to be based
on a credo that says every individual,

regardless of their background...

should have equal rights
and equal opportunity.

I want to say to everybody,
thank you, I appreciate you,

and I look forward
to coming back soon.

The reaction to him there
was so kinetic...

and really signaled that this guy
was a-- a globally important leader.

I-- I said to the senator,
"He can't-- can't be a senator.

I mean, who's this--
who's this young boy?"

And, uh...

But we're very, very impressed
with you.

You're-- you're going to be
a very credible,

-uh, presidential candidate.
-Wow.

No, don't get me into trouble there
with the...

He's-- he's-- he's shy.

It became clearer and clearer
that he was going to have

to take a look at running
for president

and that he may be interested
in running for president.

Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer
had called him into Reid's office

to say, "You really ought
to think about running."

Which shocked Obama,

that the Senate leaders would
take that step to encourage him.

And he said, "You know,
I-- I gotta think about this."

-Welcome to Iowa.
-Thank you, I appreciate it.

Did you guys practice that?

He went and spoken
at the Harkins Steak-Fry,

which was an iconic event.

It was a gathering place for Democrats
and a trial setting for all

Democratic presidential candidates.

And Obama took that place by storm.

Right now, I'm focused on '06,

and we're gonna get
all these Democrats elected.

-Yes. That's exactly right.
-And then after the election, you know,

we're gonna then think
about '08. All right?

And it's gonna take groups like...

I invited him to come to Atlanta.

We walked downtown Atlanta
from my office for lunch.

And along the way
people kept saying,

"Mr. Obama, are you going to run?
Are you going to run?"

And he just sort of, uh, said,
"Oh, maybe. I don't know."

He took a seat
in the little restaurant...

and the waiters and waitresses,

other people
just kept coming up to him.

They said, "Run, Mr. Obama.
Run. Run."

I was sitting in my office, and
he came in unannounced, um...

White Sox cap on, blue jeans.

I-- I think most people in the office
didn't even see him passing through.

And he plopped down in a chair
and said,

"You know, I'm close to making
a decision to do this."

I told him,
"My concern for you, Barack,

is not that you're gonna lose.
It's that you're gonna win."