I guess in the end it all boils down to this:

“Obama’s rise will have…extraordinarily positive consequences for African American kids.”

and I guess that is what it is all about. Benj isn’t the first one to express this either. My landlord and I discussed Obama the other day and he expressed the same sentiment although in slightly different terms. It seems to be based on a the feeling, or hope, that electing a black president-any black president- is going to cure black culture of it’s ills. There is a tangible feeling of desperation there which is very sad.

For what it is worth I don’t remember my father ever holding someone else up as an example of a man, least of all a politician, or a lawyer, instead he tried to be one himself.