Obama is a Uniter

Eugene Robinson : Obama believes his approach to politics can unite, solve problems

Washington Post

The reason to begin with the what-is-he issue is that it's a good handle on a key tenet of Obama's political philosophy. He is both an African-American and the biracial son of a black Kenyan father and a white American mother; both a product of the streets of Chicago, where he worked as a community organizer, and a son of the streets of Jakarta, where he played as a kid. Obama is the personification of "both-and."

He said his belief that American politics has seen enough "either-or" — and that he can shift the paradigm to "both-and" — is what led him to undertake "the risks and difficulties and challenges and silliness of a modern presidential campaign."

Thus, on the question of inner-city poverty and dysfunction, Obama proposes a suite of orthodox solutions — early childhood education, after-school and mentoring programs, efforts to teach young parents how to be parents. But he also emphasizes personal responsibility: "The framework that tends to be set up in Washington — which is either the problem is not enough money and not enough government programs, or the problem is a culture of poverty and not enough emphasis on traditional values — presents a false choice."

Continued