It comes as no surprise that he will be named Ebony magazine's "person of the year." In an exclusive interview with that magazine, set to hit newsstands on Dec. 9th, President-elect Barack Obama reiterated some of the basic themes that won him the election: change and unity.
He talked about his desire to see Americans to stay active in the political life of the country. "We want people to continue to be involved, to continue to be engaged," he said. "Change doesn't start in Washington. It comes from the American people demanding something different."
Obama talked about the tremendous historical transformation expressed by this election. Older voters may remember Jim Crow, he said. But his election testified "to America's capacity for growth and change."
Obama also emphasized his historical roots in the Black community. "I'm very humbled by the fact that I stand on the shoulders of all the people that made all these incredible contributions to lift this country up," told Ebony's Bryan Monroe in his first print interview following the election.
When asked about the issue of race and the question of whether or not he ran as a "Black" candidate, Obama returned to the point he had made all along to American voters. "I don't think this is going to be such a big problem because the issues that affect the African American community are issues that affect everybody," he stated. But he added that social problems often have a larger impact on African Americans.
Health care, for example, is a nationwide problem. But, "we've got to examine some of the sources of health care disparities that are race-specific," he stated. Sometimes African Americans, even those with health insurance, face the troubling problem of "finding themselves more likely to get less treatment than Whites with similar diseases and similar levels of insurance," Obama pointed out. "But the biggest problem in the African American community," he emphasized, "is that they don't have health insurance."
"Well, there's a lot of White folks and Latino folks in the same situation," he pointed out. "[A]nd if we put together a plan to deal with health care as a whole, then everybody benefits."
Obama also talked about the need to create jobs and ensure greater retirement security. "But I don't want to choose between different groups," he affirmed. "I want to put together a plan that is good for everybody. And that's generally, I think, the approach that needs to be taken."
"As I've traveled around the country, what's kept me going and happy and cheerful is just how impressed I am with the American people, generally. Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, it doesn't matter what region of the country they come from. I am somebody who firmly believes that people are good. I believe in America's institutions," the president-elect asserted.
Be sure to read the full interview in the Dec. 9th issue of Ebony magazine.
